Back to the Beginning
by Lauz1
Summary: Five Years after High School and it's back to the beginning, back to Tree Hill. Lucas returns to find himself and in doing so reingites old friendships and loves. Strong frienship story with all characters featured heavily. Eventually to be LP.
1. Chapter 1

"The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready."

- Henry David Thoreau

At eighteen the world is your oyster. You can pursue your dreams without judgement because in everyone's eyes you are young and full of life, ready and eager to explore the unknown. Many travel the world to open their horizons, others go to college to continue their learning so that when it comes time for them to settle down, and they will have a respectable job and lifestyle. But what happens to those who get lost in between, who still don't know where they want to go in life or who they want to be. Do they get left behind or do they walk a different path, an unknown path? Lucas Scott was one of those who walked a different path. It had been five years since he graduated Tree Hill High School, he hadn't travelled the world or gone to college instead he had written a novel, a novel which after two years after making the rounds, going through publication houses had began to have a following. Three years after its release was named by New York Times as one of the Best Selling Books of 2010 and they had called Lucas Scott as "the one to watch." Five years after high school he was in a slump – or what was better known as, "writers block." For a reason, he couldn't quite understand the passion he felt for writing five years ago had slowly disappeared. To try and regain his writer's mentality he did what any other passionate writer would have done, he changed his surroundings – he had decided to move back to Tree Hill, the place where it had all started and the place where it would all begin again.

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"Okay I don't think you understand, this sugar lips." The brunette licked her neatly glossed lips and rolled her heavily Dior mascaraed eyelashes. "When I said that for the church I wanted to have five hundred white orchids, I meant I wanted snow white coloured orchids! Not orchids which have a disgusting brown like hint of death looming around them." She rolled her eyes, it didn't seem like a complicated task to ask for fresh orchids and not ones that were about to pop their clogs. She turned on her Hoes over Bros brown wedges and began and stared out of the window of the store. "Oh my" She paused taking in a deep breath and smiled. "God..." Grabbing her bag from the counter she turned and looked at the sales assistant she had been badgering for the past half an hour, "This isn't over, I'll be back." She turned and headed out of the florist, walking quickly across the street and stopped behind a tall blonde haired Lucas Scott, who was staring inside of Karen's Cafe. "Look what the cat dragged back, all successful and pretty."

Lucas smiled as he heard the voice. Turning around, he looked in amazement at Brooke Davis, who had reportedly become a multi-millionaire when her fashion line, Hoes Over Bros went international. "Pretty, you think?" He asked with a raised brow, touching the side of his face.

She let out a little snort, "Um, no...not you, sunshine. I was talking about me!" Brooke smirked, she always liked to make things about her, more so now than ever. "So don't I get a hug, broody?"

Lucas shook his head; she hadn't changed in five years. She was still the sublimely confident and beautiful Brooke Davis. He took a step closer to her, wrapped his arms around her and embraced her in a hug. As they pulled apart he looked down at her hand and noticed the gigantic diamond ring on her wedding finger, of course it wasn't a shock to him that she was engaged. The news that Brooke Davis was engaged was reported practically every day in gossip magazines and on entertainment weekly. "What are you doing back..." he was about to finish the question but saw out of the corner of his eye, that the street lamps were being decorated with hanging baskets filled with white roses. "Wait; are you getting married in Tree Hill?" He asked confused. Surely Brooke would have chosen a far more expensive venue than the local church.

Brooke raised her brow, "Don't sound so shocked broody," She responded calling him by the nickname she had bestowed upon him back when they first met. "I may be an extremely successful business woman now, but I still like to keep things real." She joked and paused, "Oh you should totally come to the party tonight." She said impulsively. "We're having a huge engagement party instead of the usual bachelor/bachelorette party, which believe me wasn't my idea ...I so wanted to see some naked chip'n'dales" She said blabbering, as usual, "But Mark's family is kind of traditional and I'm still trying to impress my future mother in law which believe me isn't an easy task." She paused and watched as Lucas was clearly trying to keep up with her. "Obviously my talking skills have improved since high school. Anyways the whole town is going to be there, your mom, Lily who's just totally adorable by the way...Nathan, Haley and James..." She was about to add another name to the list but thought that she had better not. "Um, so yeah...you should totally come." Brooke turned around and saw the florist about to close the store, "Crap – I've gotta go, white orchid emergency – see you tonight." She said not giving him an option to decline the invitation and instead quickly she turned on her heels and ran across the road, calling out after the florist.

Lucas laughed watching Brooke go, she definitely hadn't changed not one bit. He wondered why Karen hadn't told Lucas about Brooke getting married in Tree Hill, sure he had asked her to keep information about Tree Hill to a minimum, it made it easier to stay away from the place, it helped him to disconnect himself – but still surely telling him about Brooke's wedding wouldn't have caused any big ripples in the water. Lucas shrugged and walked inside of his mother's cafe.

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Haley stood in front of the mirror and turned to look at her body sideways. The bridesmaid dress fitted her perfectly and accentuated her curves in all the right places. "God this material feels gorgeous." She said running her hands down the light baby pink off the shoulder dress. She couldn't remember the last time she wore something so gorgeous, her life for the past five years had consisted mostly of plain trousers and sweaters she wore to work, being a teacher was hardly the glamouress life but she wouldn't trade her life for anything. She had a wonderful job where she connected with kids everyday and helped shape their lives, her husband was the rock in her life and supported her through everything and they had a beautiful, smart and extremely talented son. What more could a girl ask for. "You know the last time I think I wore such a pretty dress was when I was eight months pregnant with James and ready to go to Prom."

Brooke laughed taking a step around Haley looking at the seams, making sure everything looked alright. "Well that just shows you need to get out more teacher girl" Had become Haley's new nickname, "The dress looks beautiful, but I think I want the hem to be about an inch lower." She said to the man standing behind her with a notepad and a measuring tape.

Haley watched the two of them interact in the mirror as she touched the oh so pretty dress. "So who am I wearing?" She asked curiously, "You know just in case I get asked by one of the many reporters who are going to be camped outside of the church on the big day." She was actually looking forward to Brooke's wedding for obvious reasons, she loved weddings and couldn't wait to see Brooke walk down the aisle, but she was also looking forward to escaping her reality for a day and being a part of Brooke's ultra fabulous famous lifestyle.

Brooke looked down at her pink strapped, white diamond framed watch and sighed. She looked at Haley and frowned slightly, trying to remember what Haley had just asked her. "What was the – oh right" Brooke smiled, "You're wearing a one of kind Vera Wang bridesmaid dress which at retail price would probably be about five thousand dollars."

Haley coughed on her tongue. "How much?" She looked down at her dress in complete shock. She was wearing a one of a kind, five thousand dollar dress by Vera Wang. She certainly was living in Brooke's world at the moment, the most expensive piece of – well anything she owned was the single white diamond tear drop necklace Nathan had bought her last year for the fifth wedding anniversary, which was still very much out of their price range. "I wonder if I could sell this on eBay?" She joked, knowing full well that would get a rise out of Brooke. She paused looking around, "Shouldn't-"

Brooke jumped in know what Haley's question was going to be, "Yes she should be here by now but as usual she's running late, I swear that girl is the reincarnation of white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland." Brooke rolled her eyes, and remembered that she had seen Lucas earlier in the day. "Oh hey, how come you didn't tell me a certain blonde haired ex boyfriend was coming in to town? Holding out on gossip, that is so un-bridesmaid like!"

"I didn't know he was coming!" She admitted, when she had seen Lucas last night she was completely shocked. "He almost gave me a fricken heart attack last night when I opened the door." Lucas hadn't made many trips back to Tree Hill since he left for New York four years ago, and she understood why...it held too many painful memories for him. "Is he coming tonight?"

Brooke nodded, "Yeah I kinda gave him no choice." Brooke smirked deviously

Haley raised her brow, "Are you not going to tell her that he's going?" Haley watched as Brooke shook her head, "Brooke!" She gasped taking a couple of steps closer to her, "Are sure that's a good idea...the two of them being in the same room as one another?" She asked. Neither she nor Brooke knew exactly what had happened between the two of them, they were both so silent about it all. "I mean what if Peyton..." Haley paused and watched as the door to the boutique swung open. "Hey Peyton!"

Brooke turned and looked at Peyton, whose blonde shoulder length semi curly fly away hair was a mess she shook her head. Other than the hair, Brooke couldn't see a fault in Peyton's appearance. She was wearing a black hoes over brow tee with a blue denim skirt, a black belt with a silver pirate skull buckle and a pair of black knee high boots. "You're late..." She raised her brow, "Let me guess, the musician begged you not to leave his sorry ass and like a puppy dog you sat there and listened to his pathetic excuses?" Brooke was very critical of Peyton's boyfriend; they had seemed to get worse and worse as time went on. She knew Peyton deserved better than being some band's flunky little miss thang, but Peyton seemed to be drawn to those losers.

Peyton scraped back her shoulder length blonde curly locks and tied it behind her head in a high pony tail, which showed off her beautiful face defined bone structure. She rolled her eyes, "For your information..." She said slipping off her black knee high boots, getting ready for her dress fitting. "The musician and I are over..." She had heard herself say that many times before, but this time she actually meant it, "and the reason I was late was because I was calling in a few favours to get Matt White to play at your wedding..."She said tilting her head to the side, Matt White was currently Brooke's favourite artist so she thought she would try and make Brooke's day even more special by trying to make it as perfect as can be. "How much do you love me?" She asked playfully.

Brooke looked up to the ceiling. "Um...like right now?" She bit her bottom lip trying to contain her excitement, "More than my fiancée!" She ran over to Peyton and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her. "This is so why you P Sawyer are my maid of honour." Brooke pulled back and continued to grin like the cat who had got the cream. "Oh my god, I think I'm literally going to pee myself from being excited!" She jumped and down and ran across the closed specifically for her boutique, to the bathroom.

Peyton and Haley jointly laughed watching Brooke, Peyton sighed and looked at the measurement guy behind her. "Okay, pops keep your hands where I can see them." She said jokingly. Peyton turned and looked at Haley who was looking at her in a way Peyton had never seen her look before. "What?"

Haley shook her head, "Nothing..." She wanted to tell Peyton about Lucas being at the party tonight but decided against it. After all what happened between Peyton and Lucas, was between the two of them. Neither she nor Brooke knew what had exactly happened between the two of them five years ago, when they broke up out of the blue which caused Lucas to have a slight melt down and leave home and for Peyton to rarely return home. "So um, how long you back in town for?"

Peyton shrugged, "I've got nothing on my schedule for the next couple of months. I'm just a long and well deserved break." Peyton had been touring with countless bands over the past few years and had even appeared in magazines beside them. She didn't have a specific role title in the music company she worked for, instead she kind of dabbled in everything from booking concerts, travelling with bands, managing them and even dating a few lead singers...her most famous one to date was Adam Levine from Maroon Five, which had only really lasted a couple of weeks. That relationship wasn't really a relationship it was more like a continuous one night stand. "Think I'm just gonna take this time to work on a few paintings and some more iconic logos for Hoes over Bros." Her part in Brooke's company was completely confidential; no one knew who designed the drawings and sketches that were featured on many of the clothing's because she didn't want to be known for her art, her art was still sacred.

Haley nodded, it was going to be good to have Peyton back in town. It seemed as their whole little group was coming back together, even if two of them didn't know it yet "I wonder if George Clooney's really coming to the party tonight?" She asked to change the topic and to try and get her mind off of Peyton and Lucas.

Peyton raised her brow, "Well if he is it's only fair as maid of on honour I get first dibs." She smirked. "Besides your married." Peyton winked at Haley before turning to the guy behind her, "Okay well let's get me naked then."

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The engagement party was behind held at Brooke's country house on the outskirts of Tree Hill. She had bought the manor as soon as she earned enough money too – it had been her dream house since she was a little girl. Even though she owned a house in London, an apartment in Paris and New York she always came back to the manor, it was by far her favourite place. The manor itself was completely decorated for the night, with a large gazebo set up in the nine acre yard; a metallic lit up dance floor with a DJ was beside the gazebo and was already filled with guests dancing. Brooke walked out of the manor carrying a glass of Dom Perion, her white thin strapped Dolce and Gabana dress was perfectly suited for the occasion. It was summery and it flowed gently in the breeze. She smiled at the many people she didn't recognise as she made her way down to the gazebo. Haley, Nathan and little James were already inside the gazebo sitting at their table. She slowly made her way across to them, "Finally some faces I actually recognise!" She looked down at little James who was dressed in a little tuxedo, "Hey cutie!" She winked at him, which made him blush.

Haley put her arm around Nathan's neck and smiled, "Brooke this place is just completely stunning." Haley was in awe of Brooke's lifestyle, everything seemed to be going so well for her she was just ecstatic for her friend.

"Yeah – and Mark's a great guy!" Nathan added. Mark Adams was heir to a movie studio or something, he wasn't really sure what Mark actually did but they had always gotten on well – mainly because Mark would often fly Nathan to New York to catch a Knicks game.

"He is isn't he?" Brooke beamed, she had finally found someone who loved her as much as she loved him. Mark seemed to worship the ground she walked on and was always surprising her with little gifts and surprises. Brooke had finally hit the jackpot with love and she didn't care if everyone knew it, she was finally happy and in the place she deserved to be in. Brooke looked across the gazebo and saw Karen, Lucas and Lily enter. "Wow, this party is getting over run by Scott's tonight huh!" Lucas straggled behind, talking to Whitey.

Karen walked over and hugged Brooke, "The manor looks wonderful." She pulled back and looked around the party, she was completely overwhelmed by all of the famous faces in Brooke's back yard. "Was that George Clooney standing by the chocolate fountain?" Everyone turned and looked towards the chocolate fountain at George Clooney who was happily chatting away to Mark's father. Karen smirked, "I might have to drop by and say hello later on..." She said blushing.

"Maid of Honour gets first choice and I've already eyed him up!" Peyton walked up the group and stood beside Brooke. She was wearing a green emerald coloured knee length dress which showed off her perfect pins and smiled. Peyton watched as everyone turned and face her, as though she had said something completely ridiculous. "What?" Their facial expressions mirrored the one Haley had given her earlier and at that moment she saw why Haley had given her that look earlier and why everyone else was giving her that look now.

Lucas stepped up beside his mother and came completely into view. Suddenly it felt as though Lucas and Peyton were the only ones inside of the gazebo, the background with everyone seemed to fade.


	2. Chapter 2

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_Author's Note: I just want to say thank you all so much for the encouraging reviews, I really have no idea where I am going with this story except I know that eventually I want friendships and past loves to be rekindled. Anyways, as always I appreciate the comments because they make me want to write more and keep updating. They give me a slight push when needed. Anyways thanks again._

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"I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of colour or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."

**- **Mark Rothko

Like everyone else in their once close nit group, Brooke's hazel coloured eyes darted from Lucas to Peyton and back again watching to see what kind of commotion would be caused by the two of them being in the same room. It wasn't that she wanted to watch the emotional fireworks between the two of them; she just thought that maybe the two of them could put the past in the past, or at least try and gain a little closure. Who was she kidding, Brooke was still the same interfering cheerleader she had been back in high school, only now she had gone global and her skills had improved somewhat. The real reason she invited Lucas to the party was so that it would hopefully knock Peyton out of her wild, partying, loving musician way. At that moment she saw Mouth walk into the gazebo, "Mouth" She shouted loudly, "Hi..." She looked around the group, "I'll be ...right over there" She tilted her head at Haley and Nathan in an overly obvious way, as in to say let's leave these two together.

Haley widened her eyes and smiled gently, "Right and we should probably find Deb..."Haley looked at Nathan and nudged his elbow and watched as he took the hint and stood up with her. "Come on James, we're gonna go find grandma..." She said taking her son's tiny hands, which she knew were one day going to be dribbling a basketball in the NBA, her son had already been scouted by academies, which annoyed her. After all, he was barely even five years old "and make sure she's not flirting up a storm and offering margaritas to any underage movie stars." She said quietly under her breath so that only Nathan could hear her. Haley, Nathan and little James followed Brooke's example and walked across the wooden floor which had been laid down especially for the occasion.

Karen took Lily's hand, "Let's go see uncle Whitey, sweetheart. We better make sure he's not having one too many scotches!" She smiled gently at Peyton, in a motherly kind of way. Over the past five years, she had seen Peyton around the small town and they had many conversations but she always resisted asking what had happened between her and Lucas, if Lucas wasn't going to open up to his own mother she doubted Peyton would open up to her. As she turned around she laid her hand on Lucas's Armani jacket covered arm and gently rubbed it, in a comforting way only a mother could really do.

Peyton watched as the group dispersed leaving the two of them standing in the right hand corner of the gazebo, she wasn't surprised at their actions; in fact she completely expected that to happen. Rolling her eyes, she shrugged at Lucas. "What do they think we're monkeys and we'll perform on demand?" She said sarcastically, in true Peyton Sawyer tradition. Her long blonde hair was loosely curled and laid freely on her shoulders. She rolled her emerald coloured eyes, the very ones that Lucas had written about in his first novel "See you around" She said bitterly, trying to act somewhat civil to the guy she had once called boyfriend.

Lucas shook his head; it was completely typical of Peyton to just give him the brush off. His mind had gone instantly back to freshman year when she had constantly brushed him off with her sarcasm and in a flash his mind went back to the night at Dan Scott's party, where they had almost go it on and Peyton pulled back and told him that she didn't want to be with him. That was a painful experience, but not as painful as it was to be standing across from her now. She looked insanely beautiful, she hadn't changed one bit. "Yeah, you're probably wanna go find the band or something." He retorted in the same bitter tone.

Peyton gently tapped her Miss Sixty black sandals against the floor and smirked, "No, I just wanna go get drunk so I can completely forget this moment." She admitted honestly. Over the years, Peyton had become well, to say a party goer would be a massive understatement. She had become the life and soul of parties, which was a far cry from her old high school persona. "I would say it's great to see you and we should meet up and talk about everything, but then I might have to go slash my wrists." She grinned, yep; she was definitely giving him the old Peyton Sawyer treatment. Peyton turned on her three inch heels and walked across the gazebo to the bar, it was time to get completely wasted.

Lucas sighed; it was good to see her again. He had tried to forget about how beautiful she was and the sound of her voice, he had tried so hard to forget about his past in Tree Hill but seeing her again – it was heartbreakingly wonderful. The question that was riding around in his mind was why was she being so harsh towards him? She was the one who had ended things, she was the one who had broken his heart and here she was acting like the one who was scorned. It made him fuelled his anger thinking about the past and their relationship and how it just abruptly ended. Without thinking Lucas found himself following Peyton across the gazebo to the bar, "Peyton..."

"Vodka and Coke..." Peyton said to the bartender, opting out of the usual champagne which was being served. She needed to get drunk and the quickest way she had found over the years to get her skinny five foot eight frame drunk was to drink vodka. Peyton turned and looked at Lucas, raising her brow. She looked down at her perfectly polished nails which had been neatly trimmed and buffed this afternoon following the bridal group's visit to the boutique. "Listen, I don't know what you thought you were doing when you decided to gate crash Brooke's party, but just stop...okay." Peyton over the past few years had become very direct in her approach to people, she had to be when she got tossed around so much with bands and their flunkies. "There's nothing left to say..."

"Am I missing something?" Lucas asked, confused. Lucas lowered his tone for the next piece of conversation, deciding that it would be best not to cause a scene at Brooke's engagement party. "You left me ... and now..." He couldn't quite get the words out of his mouth because his mind kept flashing back to the two of them in their senior year of high school, being together and being so incredibly happy.

Peyton scoffed, "I left you?" Was that supposed to be a joke? "You were the one..." She couldn't finish her sentence because she didn't know what to say, now was hardly the time to go over what went wrong in their relationship so instead she instinctively reached across the bar and grabbed the vodka and coke from the bartender's had as he just finished mixing her drink. "Hey guess what..." She said with a grin on her face, "This conversation is over." Her grin faded and she scowled at Lucas, a scowl she had perfected in the pre-Lucas Scott lonely years of high school.

"Do what you do best then," Lucas leaned forward slightly so that his face was closer to her. His heart told him to kiss her so that he could just remember what it felt like, the touch of her lips, the warmth of her body against his but his brain was telling him the opposite, "Walk away." Lucas pulled back but kept his full attention on hers.

"Gladly..." Peyton scowled and turned her back to him. Who did he think he was, the love of her life? He was just a boy she had dated in high school – okay so he was more than that, he was the only guy to ever actually see her for who she was and to tell her that he loved her and actually meant it. Peyton pulled the expensive crystal glass to her lips and slowly drowned her sorrows with the strong, sharp taste of vodka hitting the back of her throat instantly.

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The party was going in full swing, everybody was mingling and dancing away except one broody blonde, Brooke sighed and slowly walked over to the table where he was sat alone, drinking what looked like a beer. She pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him, taking off her white strappy Chloe heels placing them on the clean white table cloth that covered the table. "What's up lonely?" She asked, interested. Of course she knew exactly what was up with him, it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what was going on inside that writer's mind. She watched as he looked at her with a facial expression that indicated he didn't particularly want to talk about it, "You know, the sacrifices us women have to make to look good is ridiculous. My feet have been crunched up in one size too small shoes for the past five years, so that my posture would be oh so fabulous for the cameras...but you know what, tonight it's my party so I'm going to go all cave man and go bare feet." Brooke looked across to the open dance floor which was lit up perfectly by the various spotlights placed around it. "I don't even care what the old hag known as my future mother in law thinks, she can shove my pretty white Chloe shoes where the sun doesn't shine." Brooke turned back and looked at Lucas with a grin. "See how good I am at babbling, broody! So now it's your turn." Brooke turned and looked over to the bar where Peyton was standing, engaged in a conversation with the incredibly hot, older George Clooney. "What happened between you and my best friend?" She turned and looked back at Lucas, waiting for an answer.

Lucas tilted his head and looked at Brooke and shook his head. "Are you nervous about getting married?" He asked trying to defuse the question.

Brooke sighed, "Honestly...no." She smiled sweetly and shrugged, "Luke, you are one of the few guys that I've loved in my lifetime, but with you I was always insecure because I knew deep down your heart didn't belong to me, that you were always waiting for..."Brooke turned and looked at Peyton and smiled, "But with Mark, it's different. He makes me happy and I think when you're with the right someone, you stop worrying and you start enjoying the relationship." Brooke frowned and leaned across the table hitting Lucas on the hand, "Look at you getting me all serious at my party that is so not even funny!"

Lucas smirked at Brooke's playful punch and looked around the gazebo which was practically empty. The place looked as though it had just stepped out of one of those wedding magazines describing how to have the perfect look for an engagement party. He turned and looked at Peyton and sighed, "She didn't want to be with me..." Lucas turned and looked at Brooke, knowing that his smile couldn't hide the sadness from emulating from his blue eyes. "I asked her to marry me," He said continuing the smile, watching Brooke's face go from interested to completely shocked. "And she said no...I asked her and she said no" He said repeating it, he had never spoken those words aloud before because it meant that he was acknowledging what had happened when he preferred to be in denial of everything.

Well what do you say to that? Oh well, life's a bitch? Brooke sighed and looked across at her best friend completely confused. She knew full well better than anyone how much Peyton had loved Lucas. Brooke looked down at her beautiful Tiffany cut diamond engagement ring and couldn't help but feel happy that she was no longer in that situation of being in love with someone who didn't love you back, she had moved on but apparently she was the only one. It was clear to her that Lucas and Peyton still had issues, unresolved feelings or whatever for one another. "Let's dance..." She watched as Lucas looked up at her, "I know you probably want me to have a serious heart to heart with you about this kind of stuff, which in itself is kinda weird because we haven't really seen each other in like five years or whatever, and I'm not your budding best friend tutor girl but I will listen and I will talk and no doubt meddle sooner or later in your love life, to try and fix everything because that's the super cool human being that I am..." She said catching her breath, babbling was an art form and she was an artist "but that can all wait, broody. It's my party and I'll cry, sing and dance if I want to and by my demand, as the bride I want the broodiness to stop. There is nothing you can do tonight, except dance and have a good time." Brooke stood up, leaving her sandals on the table, to hell with the old hag who was watching her every move with a disapproving scowl. She grabbed Lucas's arm and dragged him to the dance floor and joined Haley, James, Lily and Karen who were all doing the very embarrassing Macarena dance.

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Peyton was stood in the corner of the gazebo talking to one of the guy's from Jackass, she was a little too drunk to exactly know which one it was but she didn't really care, the drunker she got the better he looked and that was all that mattered. She turned and saw Brooke walk over to her, "If it isn't the bride to be, come on over and say hi to my friend." She said merrily, "Who's name...right now escapes me, but he's really pretty, isn't he really pretty" She asked Brooke. "Or am I just too drunk?

Brooke took a hold of her best friends hand and looked at the guy with a brow raised, "Oh you're definitely too drunk because he really isn't that pretty." She admitted "Excuse us..." She said dragging Peyton away from the sexually charged loser she recognised from different award shows. "P. Sawyer you know I love you and all, but I think you have had enough fun for one night. You went from George Clooney..." She said with a hint of proud ness in her voice, "I mean you were actually flirting with the man with the most beautiful, soulful eyes in the world to...the sexual deviant, which suggests that you my dear drunk friend have had one too many shots of vodka to try and hide the pain of seeing Lucas again."

Peyton frowned, "I wasn't in pain." She said in denial, "I'm just here to have a good time..." She smiled at Brooke, almost falling off of her Miss Sixty heels.

Brooke laughed, "Okay well then sweetie if you haven't seen the party is over, most of the guests have left and you really need to go sleep this off." She took Peyton's arm and wrapped it around her neck so that Peyton would have some support when they started walking. "Who would have thought five years ago that I would be the one carrying Peyton Sawyer out of the party, when all throughout high school it was the other way around!" She joked walking with Peyton towards the manor, she looked over at Mark and mouthed sorry to him.

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Brooke walked into the dining room of the manor which was already set up for breakfast, she smiled and sat down in her usual spot, at the top of the long mahogany table and picked up the jug of orange juice and poured herself a glass. She hadn't had much to drink last night, yet she was feeling the effects of it this morning with a small, but very much there headache.

"Morning..." Peyton walked into the dining room, dressed in a pair of blue denim low cut levis jeans and a grey Abercrombie and Fitch tee. Her blonde locks were scraped back into a tight, high pony tail. She smiled and sat down beside Brooke, "I passed the future mother in law in the corridor and I think she may have cussed at me under her breath."

Brooke smirked, "Yeah well apparently your late night antics kept her up which was a bad thing for her but a good thing for me." She tilted her head, "Apparently, after seeing you go girls gone wild, her opinion of me has increased somewhat, so thank you for that." Brooke turned and looked at Neil, the chef who had once worked at the Ritz hotel in Paris who she had convinced to come to Tree Hill to prepare her glamouress wedding feast. "So how about we start testing out the deserts, I don't really feel I can do a cooked breakfast justice this morning..." She watched as he simply nodded and walked out of the dining. Brooke began to tap her perfectly manicured, French tip nails against the pottery barn bought table as she watched her best friend pour herself a glass of the freshly squeezed orange juice. "So I had a really interesting conversation with broody last night..."

Peyton looked up at Brooke and sighed, placing the glass jar filled with orange juice down on the table. "Don't go there, Brooke." She asked simply, she wasn't in the mood to talk about Lucas Scott or why their relationship crumbled, she just wanted to forget she had seen him last night, it was easier that way.

"Peyton..." Brooke said softly, "Hunnie, he asked you to marry him and you said no." Brooke blurted out, okay so maybe Lucas had told her that in confidence she wasn't really sure, but she had to approach the subject with Peyton and find out why Peyton had turned him down, why she retreated into her shell and gone completely musician loving crazy. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Peyton closed her eyes and shook her head, "He told you that?" She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling which by her standards needed another coat of white paint to make it look sublimely white. She let out a deep sigh and looked back down at her best friend, whose face was already applied with completely flawless makeup. "That is not what happened," She said feeling the tears begin to well under her eyes. "Not even close to what happened."


	3. Chapter 3

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_Authors Note: Aw I'm glad alot of you were intrigued about the whole situation and loved reading the reviews, everyone wanting to know what had happened...it made me want to know what happened. Tough chapter, a little too much drama perhaps but it's showing their journey of how they came the people they are and why they are those people. Anyways hope you enjoy. Thanks for the inspiration!)_

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"Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If you would have asked him at fifteen where he thought he would be in ten years, Nathan Scott would have answered with the cocky grin he had mastered over his pre-puberty years that he would be playing for an all star basketball team, married to a beautiful model named Enka and had a fortune which boasted three houses, a yacht and a bank account overloaded with cash from various sponsorship deals. Of course, dreams are never quite reality. Nathan plodded down the stairs of his semi detached three bedroom house, with his defined six pack on show and his modesty covered by a pair of black pyjama bottoms. As he walked into the kitchen a small smile appeared on his face as he saw Haley reading the local paper and James sat at the table eating his morning round of Lucky Charms. "Good morning." He said running his hands through his hair, roughing it up a little more. As he pulled out a chair to sit down he watched as Haley pulled down the paper to look at him, "What?"

Haley dropped the paper on the table and looked out of the corner of her eye to see that James was blissfully eating his cereal, completely ignorant to his surroundings. "I can't stop thinking about the party last night..." She watched as Nathan gave her his clueless look, which she couldn't decide was cute or damn right annoying, "You know what I'm talking about...a certain blonde Scott and a certain blonde curly haired girl that we call friend."

James picked up his cream coloured cereal bowl which was now mainly empty apart from a small dosage of milk at the bottom. He pulled bowl closer to his mouth and licked the bottom of the bowl.

"James...that's disgusting, don't do that!" Haley said watching her son lick the bowl like a dog, "You're not a dog, are you?" She added with a small grin on her face.

James turned and looked at his mother and sighed placing the bowl back down on the kitchen table. "Dad does it!" He retorted. "You don't tell him off for licking the bowl like a dog!" James was a smart boy, he was ahead in all of his classes and his vocabulary constantly astounded his teachers and his parents, because when he talked he sounded like a twelve year old, not a five year old boy. Though his attention span, much like Nathan's was non-existent. "Can we get a dog?" He asked grinning, showing off his missing front two teeth. "Can we?" He asked again more excited.

"First of all...I do tell your father off for being a dirty hound." She said looking across the table at Nathan, batting her eyelids sweetly at him. "Second of all, we're not getting a dog. After the unfortunate goldfish incident, I think we're not meant to have pets. It's just not meant to be." She leaned across the table, picking up James's empty cereal bowl and stood up as the backdoor opened. Haley turned slowly and watched as Lucas tapped gently on the open door, "Hey Luke..." She beamed.

"Hey..." Lucas had been awake since five thirty this morning and had already run so many errands; he had called his agent to tell her that he wouldn't be back in New York for a while because he needed to find his inspiration again, his mojo. He had then dropped off his little sister at her early morning swimming lessons and had stayed to watch her. She was a beautiful swimmer, she was already onto diving into the deep end of the pool and she swan with a grace like you would expect a mermaid to swim with. "Hey buddy.,." He said walking over to the table, raising his hand in the air.

James jumped off of his chair, throwing it back slightly. He jumped up and slapped Lucas's hand, high fiving him with one hand while holding onto his blue and red Spiderman pyjama bottoms.

Nathan poured himself a bowl of lucky charms and smirked, "James if you get dressed and brush your teeth..." He watched as James turned to look at him, with a sheepish grin that reminded him so much of himself, he couldn't help but smirk. "And when I say brush your teeth, I mean put tooth paste onto the tooth brush this time...your uncle Lucas might play a game of basketball with you in the backyard."

"Really?" James turned and looked at Lucas who nodded down to him. "Awesome!" He squealed, "I probably should take my time too huh, mom?" James looked across the kitchen at his mom and smirked, "I mean you wanna talk to Uncle Luke about aunt Peyton right? What?" James smirked, "I'm five, not stupid!" James turned around and ran out of the kitchen, dashing his way along the corridor in his bare feet to his bedroom.

Lucas turned and looked at Haley with his brow raised, obviously he was a topic of conversation in the Scott house. "You wanna talk to me?" He asked curiously.

Haley laughed nervously, "No." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Oh that kid of ours is too damn smart and intuitive." She opened her eyes and gently licked her dry lips and sighed gently. Of course she wanted to talk to Lucas about Peyton, she had wanted to know why the two were so stand offish with one another, well she knew why; the relationship had ended badly but what her curious mind wanted to know, and what she had been dying to know for the past five years, was what exactly happened between the two of them. "So uh, are you sticking around for long?" Haley walked across the kitchen back to the seat where her bum had been sat five minutes ago.

Lucas sat down on the empty chair at the dining table and frowned. "Why's everyone so interested in that?" He asked a little annoyed, it seemed like everyone wanted to know what had happened between Peyton and him, "It's in the past and it doesn't matter anymore..."He said looking at his best friend as he leaned further back in the chair, running his hands through his spikey blonde locks. "And to answer your question, I'm sticking in town for a while so I'd really like to limit the third degree questions about Peyton, okay?" He pleaded.

Haley nodded, "Okay..." She said trying to support her best friend but she didn't believe his words. If it didn't matter anymore, why had Lucas stared at Peyton all of the last night with a longing look imprinted on his face? "I'm gonna go get dressed..." She said and stood up, leaving the two Scott boys together. "I'm coming upstairs to make sure your brushing your teeth..." Haley called up the stairs, a few seconds later she heard scuffling upstairs and smirked. "Like father, like son." She said to herself before walking up the stairs.

Nathan laughed, "I'm the good cop, Haley's the bad one." Nathan sighed and looked across the table at his older brother. He had barely seen Lucas in the past five years, and when they had seen one another it was always up in New York because Lucas never came back to Tree Hill. "Listen, give her a break man..." He asked nicely, "Like everyone else she's just curious what went down between you and Peyton and she cares about you two, so she's just worried about you."

"And you?" Lucas asked curiously. Nathan had been the only person not to ask him what had happened between him and Peyton.

"It's none of my business." Nathan said simply, "Besides all that drama is for chicks, man." He joked standing up from the table. "Now let's go outside and see if your three throw has gotten any worse." Nathan walked across the kitchen, slipping his feet into a pair of white Nike basketball sneakers that were and grabbed a plain blue t-shirt from the pile of laundry on the counter beside the door.

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Brooke sighed out of desperation. She had tried everything, she batted her perfectly curled eyelashes and smiled sweetly yet Peyton still wasn't spilling the beans on what had happened. "Come on..." She said, her last word being lengthened by the desperation of wanting to know. "Oh..." She paused and smirked, "Telling me what happened can totally be your wedding gift to me, see it's a win-win situation. You don't have to worry about getting me something glamouress and I can be happy knowing that my best friend turned into party girl Lindsay Lohan for a reason."

Peyton stabbed her fork into the chocolate cake which the chef had placed onto the table a few minutes earlier. "Your gift is Matt White." She responded cooly, "I mean I can always call and cancel his appearance if you want." She tilted her head and smirked knowing full well that Brooke wouldn't want that, because Brooke had strangely developed a fascination with Matt White and she was a big fan of his music. Her smile faded as she saw Brooke sit further back in her chair with a pout, "Nothing big happened...we just ended things." She said trying to defuse the situation.

"Nothing big happened?" Brooke asked back and sat forward on her chair, reaching across the table placing her hand on top of Peyton's and gently rubbed it. "Sweetie, Lucas asked you to marry him..." Brooke watched as Peyton retreated, lowering her head. "And you said no, that's something pretty big." Brooke licked her pink grapefruit coloured lip gloss, "But what really worries me the most is that you didn't tell me, I'm your best friend P.Sawyer." She added, "Hoes over Bros...and all that." Brooke was still playing back Peyton's words in her mind, what did she mean what she said that's not what happened. "What happened Peyton?"

Peyton sighed and rolled her eyes, "Nothing..." Peyton looked up and shrugged her usual carefree shrug. "We just drifted apart and he tried to keep us together by asking me to marry him, that's all!" Peyton sighed, it wasn't lie but it wasn't the entire truth either. "Brooke...you're getting married in two days, okay. Let's make this weekend all about you."

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Obviously it's gonna be all about me, but right now I'm worried about you. You went from an insanely, sickeningly beautiful, loving relationship with Lucas into the girl who's hell bent on having a good time drinking everyone under the table." Brooke turned around as she heard the door open and saw her mother in law standing in their door way. She turned and looked back at Peyton, and closed her eyes "Honestly Peyton, sex for money is not the way."

Peyton opened her mouth shocked and pulled her hand away from Brooke, turning to look at Brooke's mother in law who stormed out of the dining room. "Are you crazy?" Peyton leaned across and slapped Brooke's hand, "She's gonna think I'm a whore!"

Brooke shrugged, "She was eavesdropping, such a bad habit...just wanted her to give us some breathing space." Brooke knew it was the wrong thing to do but she didn't have time or the patience to put up with the mother in law from hell, instead she just wanted to the old hag to mind her own business. She looked down at her pink strapped, diamond encrusted watch and rolled her eyes. "Marie's going to be here in five minutes." Marie was her hairstylist; they were going to go over how she was going to have her hair for the wedding and the party. "You wanna get your hair done and look all pretty?" She asked, her way of asking for forgiveness for being nosey and embarrassing Peyton.

Peyton shook her head, "As tempting as it sounds to sit through five hours of listening to you and your hairstylist gossip about the latest Hollywood scandal, I think I'll pass." Peyton pushed the chair backwards and stood up from the table, pulling down on her Abercrombie and Fitch tee. "I've got some errands to run in town, but I'll be back tonight." She smiled at Brooke to let her know that everything was alright between them. She turned and looked at the door, which Brooke's future mother in law was more than likely standing behind, eavesdropping. "Oh and you know when I say errands, I mean have all kinds of dirty, kinky sex with married men and then getting paid for it."

Brooke turned and looked at the door and shook her head with a smirk, "You're so bad." She said turning back to look at Peyton and her perfectly toned body.

Peyton shrugged, "I learnt from the best." She said referring to Brooke. "See you tonight." Peyton turned and walked out of the dining room.

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Peyton pressed her foot harder against the acceleration, revving the engine of her black open topped convertible which she hadn't driven for years. She pulled away from the traffic lights and sped off down the empty street. All day she had been doing nothing but driving and thinking about yesterday, she had tried so hard to forget about it all but she couldn't. It was constantly on her mind. With AC/DC's 'back in black' blaring from the speakers she had found herself driving around in circles, wanting to stay away from Brooke's manor for as long as possible. She wasn't in the mood for another interrogation round. As she pulled up to the next set of traffic lights she saw a familiar red van ahead, with the printing of 'Keith Scott' body shop' written on the side. Over the past five years, Karen had ventured out and reopened Keith's old mechanic store. She looked up at the red light and frowned, pressing her foot against the gas and sped in front of the red truck, watching as it quickly came to a halt.

"Jesus Christ." Lucas opened the truck's door and stepped out of the truck onto the main road. "Are you crazy?" He called out to the car, watching as Peyton stepped out from her black convertible. Crap, he hadn't been paying attention to what kind of car had almost run him off the road or who had been behind the wheel.

"What's your problem?" Peyton yelled as she walked up to him, her hips naturally swaying in the low cut denim levis jeans she had been wearing all day. She stopped about a foot away from his body and reached across with her arms extended and pushed on his chest which was covered with a baby blue t-shirt which outlined his toned abs so – she pushed slightly harder knocking him back slightly. "Huh?"

Lucas stumbled backwards slightly as he wasn't expecting to get nudged. He took a hold of Peyton's hands which were currently pressed against his chest, to stop her from pushing him back again. For a brief moment, he caught himself just looking down into her beautiful emerald green eyes until she yanked her hands away from him. "What's my problem?" He said breaking his trance. "I have the problem?" He asked confused. "You're the one who nearly ran me off the road!" He then muttered, "Psycho!"

Peyton bit her bottom lip, she could feel every part of her body fill with rage. "Yeah, sorry about that." She responded sarcastically. "I tell you what why don't we even the score – why don't you tell everyone that you asked me to marry you and I like the cruel bitch that I am, said no..." She reached across and pushed on his chest again, only this time he didn't move backwards. "Oh wait, no you already did that...only you left out a few, minor details" She shook her head in disbelief and turned around, clenching her fingers together as she began to walk back to her car.

"You left me." Lucas called out to her, he began to follow her until she stopped and turned and looked at him, giving him a cold stare. "Or are you forgetting that?" Lucas threw his hands in the air out of frustration. "You tore out my heart and trampled all over it, alright...I shouldn't have been surprised though, you did the same thing freshman year!"

"You were suffocating me!" Peyton spat back at him. "After..." She paused not being able to say what she wanted to, "After..." She couldn't say it, it was too heartbreaking for her.

"After you lost the baby..." Lucas said finishing her sentence.

"God..." Peyton shook her head, "Shut up, okay. Just shut up!" Peyton had closed herself off to the past because she couldn't think about the past, how at one point everything seemed perfect. She was in a loving relationship and she was finally going to have the family she had always wanted – but after, everything changed. She changed and so did he... "What about the random bar slut you slept with!" She blurted out, out of instinct to defend herself

"Oh god, Peyton. How many times did I tell you, I didn't sleep with her!" Lucas said cooly, he had told her so many times in the past that he had begun to sound like a broken record. He completely understood her reaction though – he had gone out for a night after Peyton had blown him off again and had wounded up getting too drunk to drive home and the last thing he remembered about that night was a girl offering him a ride home. The morning after however was something he couldn't forget. Waking up with a beautiful naked woman in his room was shocking enough but then to have Peyton standing their over the bed, staring at the two of them – well that just damn right gave him a near heart attack. After Peyton had left, despite his protests the girl had sworn that nothing had happened between the two of them, she said that she had gotten undressed because he vomited on her clothes and ended up falling asleep on his bed, right beside him.

"Right – well the naked girl I found in your bed suggests otherwise." Peyton sighed, "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised though, you always were a man whore jumping from one girls bed to another." Peyton let out a deep sigh, this conversation was draining her energy quickly. "And how did you try and make up for the situation, you ask me to marry you. Did you really think I would say yes, after walking in on that?"

"You wouldn't have said yes even if that never happened." Lucas retorted, "You had decided long before then to leave me. You stopped opening up to me and just closed yourself off. I tried so hard Peyton, I did...but you just wouldn't let me in." His tone and his shaky voice screamed heartbreak but he didn't care, they were finally having the conversation they should have had five years ago. "I closed myself off too Peyton, I know I did – but I've changed Peyton, I'm not that guy anymore." He said trying to convince her that he was no longer the guy who made those mistakes; falling in love with Peyton when he was dating Brooke, sleeping with Nikki after Peyton broke his heart; going home drunk with a complete stranger.

Peyton let out a deep sigh, "It's doesn't matter anymore, Lucas." She said dejectedly. She was completely drained of emotion, energy and everything else. "It doesn't matter who you are, or who I am or why we got here, because none of it matters."

"But it does..." Lucas said taking a step closer to Peyton, "It still matters to me."


	4. Chapter 4

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_Author's Note: Again thank you all for all the wonderful reviews, I'm definately going to show what happened between Lucas and Peyton and how it all transpired. I think it's important to show why they are the way they are now...anyways because I haven't updated in a while, this chapter is a little longer and shows how they are starting back on the road to friendship etc. Hope you enjoy :)_

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"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad."

- Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Born into a wealthy family meant that as a child she had anything she wanted. At the age of three, she had accumulated four easy bake ovens which was probably the reason why at the age of sixteen she underwent a stomach staple, a nose reshape and many other surgical procedures to make sure that by the time she reached her next high school she looked less like a pie eating champion and more like a glamour model, something which she had once as a self proclaimed fat girl desired to be. "So this is the home I helped you cheat to achieve?" Rachel raised her brow as she walked towards Brooke and Haley, who were standing opposite the gazebo. "Ooh nice bus boys!" She stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. She had decided at the last minute to drive to Tree Hill, it was completely in her nature to be impulsive. "Hey bitches…"In sync, Brooke and Haley turned around with different facial expressions gracing their faces. Brooke, by Rachel account looked genuinely happy to see her where as Haley's smile was a devious one, she may have looked happy but after getting to know the smart girl during senior year, she knew better than anyone that, that particular smile was the Haley James Scott sarcastic smile.

Brooke walked across the grass in her pink playboy slippers and threw her arms around Rachel's neck, "I can't believe you're here…" She tightened her hug and closed her eyes. They had been enemies, friends and for the first three years after high school strangers. It was only in the last two years that they had reconnected via phone calls, emails and the occasional visit. As Brooke pulled back she gently swayed her long glossed dark locks and smirked. "How do I look?"

Rachel shrugged, "Like a bride to be…" Rachel smirked, "Which usually is a sickening sight, but on you, it's just plain horrible!" She joked sarcastically. Taking a step back she looked herself up and down, her black plunging halter neck top showing off her increased bust size, her skinny blue jeans tucked neatly into her black cowboy boots. "How do I look?" She raised her brow, "Hot, right?" She asked amused.

Haley shrugged, "If you're into the whole cowboy hooker look, sure." She added sarcastically. She knew that Rachel had been invited to the wedding and she knew the chances of her attending were high considering there were going to be many single and married men at the wedding reception Rachel could openly flirt with. Nathan was one of the married men who in her mind, was completely hands off. "How's the brothel?"

Rachel laughed, she was expecting Haley to be hostile to her but she didn't think she would find it so funny. "The bar…" She said correcting Haley, "Is good and business is booming…how's the husband? Still completely hot?" Rachel quickly retorted. She figured that if Haley was going to start hurling out comments like that, then she could at least throw a few back her way.

Brooke nodded, "This is good…" She smiled at the two girls licking her perfectly coconut flavoured balm lips. "Get the sarcastic comments, witty moments out of the way before the wedding…because the only death stares I want present at my wedding are the ones the monster in law..." She said playing with her words, "will be giving me!"

"I'm done…" Rachel and Haley said in unison. Sighing, Rachel looked back at the insanely huge manor that was Brooke's house. "So, what's happening tonight?" She asked curiously. "How many naked strippers are you having at your bachelorette party?" She raised her brow twice playfully, "and have you already scoped them out to make sure they are more beauty than geek?"

Brooke frowned, "Unfortunately the only stripping that will happening tonight is if you and P.Sawyer get totally drunk and decide to have a stripping contest." Brooke casted her look across the backyard where her future mother in law and future husband were standing, organizing the only part of the wedding that Brooke had let either of them take a hold of; the layout of the food. "Apparently it's far too common to have such a degrading act at a bachelorette party…"She said in a croaky tone trying to imitate the old woman.

"Degrading act?" Rachel rolled her eyes, "The old hag is probably worried that she would crack a smile watching a bunch of oiled up, six packed, naked men flaunting off their perfectly groomed assets." The tips of Rachel's mouth lifted as she smirked, imagining such an encounter.

"Yeah that or it's been a thirty years since she's seen one." Haley added. Okay so it was a little vulgar to be talking about this kind of subject at eleven in the morning and let alone in front of Rachel, but she had a point. "I told Brooke, it was her party and she could cry if she wanted to."

Brooke shrugged it off, "Yeah well, to be honest I would rather have a meal with my friends and talk about the old days than worry about who I might upset or whether or not I would get photographed tugging on some stripper's g-string with my teeth." Brooke smirked and gently rubbed on the sides of her pink dressing gown. "Besides, it'll be a great way for you" She said looking at Rachel, "and a certain blonde curly haired best friend of mine to show me how much you love me by being t-total!" A little request she hadn't asked either of them yet.

"Okay we'll get back to the whole t-total thing later." Rachel promised. It was kind of an absurd request; how could she not drink at a bachelorette party…wait, no scratch that how could she not drink? She owned lived and worked at a bar; where most nights she would end the night with a bottle of one of her favourite guys; Jack. "Where is your emo loving best friend?"

Brooke turned and looked up at the house, "She's still asleep." Brooke turned and looked at Haley. "She didn't get in until three this morning, thankfully though she came home alone and I imagine worse for wear." Brooke had been concerned about Peyton's drinking habits and her love life, which had been on an obvious downward spiral for the past few years.

"Three? That's amateur drinking!" Rachel retorted. "So who's on the guest list for tonight's meal?" Rachel turned and smirked at Haley… "Nathan?"

"Yeah and our son." Haley quickly added and watched as Rachel's smile widened because Haley bit the bait.

"The old gang…Peyton, Skills, Bevin, Mouth, Karen, Lily, Lucas" That was the list as far as she could remember; she wasn't sure if she had invited other people to tag along to the meal but those were the ones who were definitely going to be in attendance. Brooke smirked and looked across the backyard gently waving to her fiancée "If I'm not going to have a bachelorette party with cheesy 90's music and strippers then I'm not going to have my Mark's stiff upper class family ruining a perfectly good get together." Brooke turned and looked at Rachel and Haley with the fake smile still plastered on her face.

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Lucas sat down at the table and picked at the food on his plate, he wasn't hungry but Nathan had gone to the trouble of cooking lunch for the three of them. He turned and looked at James who was also picking at the food and smirked. "Does daddy cook much?"

James turned and looked up at his uncle Lucas and shook his head. "Can I go play with Michael?" He asked turning around on his chair to look at Nathan who was making drinks. "I promised him and Jack that I would show them how to nail a three pointer." He shrugged, "Someone's gotta teach them, their dads suck at basketball."

Lucas laughed

Nathan sighed, "Watch your mouth." Nathan said looking over at his son, who knew exactly what he was talking about. James was a smart mouthed kid, just like he had been when he was younger – only James was smarter and witty insults would usually roll off of his tongue. "And yes you can, just make sure you're back by five – and…"

"Don't tell mom you let me go over to Michael's because I'm still on." He paused and lifted his hands in the air, quoting his mother "restriction." James pushed back on the chair and jumped down, nodding to his father. "Bye dad…bye Uncle Luke." He ran towards the back door and yanked on the door handle and flew out of the door.

Lucas watched his little nephew fly out of the house as though it were on fire. He shook his head with disbelief. "I can't believe how smart that kid is…" Lucas watched as Nathan sat opposite him and placed a cup of coffee in front of him. "Thanks..." Picking up the cup of coffee he took a quick sip from the hot beverage before placing it back down on the table and smirked, "Look at you – Nathan Scott, domesticated!" He said in disbelief. "Does all of this make you happy?" He asked genuinely interested in the answer to the question, a question he had always wanted to ask but had held back because he hadn't wanted to bring up any old painful memories for Nathan

"Honestly…" Nathan nodded "I'm the happier now than I ever was playing basketball." After college Nathan had been asked to join a high ranked European team but had declined the offer because he didn't want to up root his family. The truth was playing college basketball had filled the majority of his basketball needs, and coaching the Ravens filled the rest. "So you and Peyton talked last night?" He asked changing the subject. Lucas had knocked on his door half an hour earlier and they had talked about last night, but before they could get to the - what he imagined was good stuff – James had come downstairs for lunch.

Lucas nodded, "We talked…and she left." He shrugged, "We were at a crossroads; where it seemed like we were getting everything out on the table about what happened between us and why broke up …and how we still felt, or at least how I felt." Lucas found himself babbling on like Brooke had done to him yesterday to get him to open up to her. "And then she in true Peyton Sawyer mode, bolted." Lucas frowned and leant back in his chair, running his hands through his messy short blonde locks. "I don't know, I guess it's all meant to stay in the past."

After about a minute of silence, Nathan finally spoke. "What did happen between you two anyways?" He asked curiously, speculating whether Lucas would do the unimaginable and confess to him what he hadn't confessed to anyone; the reason Lucas and Peyton had broken up.

Lucas leaned forward and rested his elbows against the table, resting his chin in his hand. "I can't tell you…" Lucas admitted it wasn't because he wouldn't. A couple of days ago he wouldn't have, but after seeing Peyton again and having all of those memories and feeling resurface he wanted to tell people, he had wanted to talk to Peyton… "Peyton kinda blew up at me last night for telling Brooke…" He hadn't told Brooke exactly what had happened, but he had mentioned something. "Perhaps I should just do what they say; let sleeping dogs lie."

Nathan nodded knowing better not to push the subject. That was the different between girls and guys; girls liked to know things where as guys were only usually half interested in knowing. "So you gonna be at Brooke's bachelorette party tonight?" He asked changing the subject.

"Yeah…" Lucas raised his brow, glad to have the subject to change. "What's the deal with that anyways?"

"Apparently her future mother in law is the second coming…" Nathan frowned, "I feel bad for Brooke, ya know." Brooke and Nathan had never been close friends, the closest they had ever really been was when he and Peyton had dated back in he beginning of high school and even then they didn't really talk much…oh and there was that one night of drunken sex they had back in freshmen year, which he had videotaped and had later been played in front of a party filled with seniors including his then pregnant wife.

"Yeah me too…" Ever since Lucas had been in town, he had seen a side of Brooke he had never seen before; she had been docile – letting what other people thought of her make a difference in her choices.

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Brooke had arrived at Gisepi's an hour before the scheduled meal. The five star quality restaurant; the only five star restaurant in Tree Hill had specifically closed for the evening at a small cost. She tapped her classic black Prada pumps against the old oak floor and smirked, "Is everything set?" She asked looking at the cute, tanned and buff Italian waiter. She looked over at the door and watched Nathan, Haley and little James enter. "Everyone's now coming…" She said looking across to the table where Bevin, Skills, Mouth and Rachel were already seated. She turned and made her way over to the three Scott members. "Hey." She hugged each of them individually, bending down to hug little James. "I have a present for you." Standing up straight she straightened her iron straight black strapped Prada cocktail dress and turned on her heels, walking across the restaurant's floor. Pulling out a basketball, she threw it across the room and watched as Nathan caught it.

Nathan bent down and handed the basketball to James.

James looked at it and raised his brow, "A basketball?" He asked confused. "I have three already…"

Haley sighed, "James…be nice and grateful and say thank you."

Brooke shook her head, "That's not just any basketball." She walked across the room towards the Scott family and looked down at the small dark haired boy, "It's signed by someone called…Michael Jordan." She said pretending not to know who the famous basketball player was. "If you don't want it I can always sell it on eBay." She joked.

James's mouth dropped opened. "Daddy did you see what I got?" He looked up at his father's expression which mirrored his own.

Nathan bent down and touched the basketball in his hands, looking at the basketball which had been signed in black ink by the world's all time basketball player. "Wow…" He and James spoke in unison, completely star struck by the basketball.

Haley rolled her eyes and took the ball from James's hands and watched as both her husband and he son frowned up at her. "You can get this back after you've cleaned your dinner plate and I mean all the vegetables are to be eaten and not stored away under the napkin for the dog we don't have." Haley turned and looked at Nathan, "I mean both of you."

Brooke laughed and watched as Haley, Nathan and James made their way across the restaurant to join the others. She watched with intrigue as each of them sat down at their designated spot and smirked gently to herself as Haley looked up at her and shook her head. "What?" Brooke mouthed and shrugged pretending no to know exactly what the brainy sun-kissed brunette was thinking. Brooke turned back around hearing the door open, she watched as Karen, Lily and Lucas walked through the entrance. "This restaurant is going to be dominated by Scott's tonight!" She turned around and walked across the restaurant floor picking up a pink gift back before turning around and making her way back to the three of them, to greet them.

"Brooke you look stunning." Karen smiled and felt Brooke lean forward and hug her gently.

"Thank you…" Brooke bent down and looked at Lily with a smile, "but not as beautiful as this one." She handed Lily the pink gift bag and winked, "Something for special occasions." Brooke had placed a white gold bracelet inside and had something in Latin inscribed on the inside of the bracelet. Brooke looked across at Lucas and knowingly smirked. "Hey broody…"

Lucas laughed, that greeting was never going to get old. "Hey cheery…" Lucas looked across to the table and saw that everyone apart from Peyton was already sat down. "So not the traditional bachelorette party…" He observed trying to taking his mind off of the absent Peyton.

Brooke shrugged, "Yeah but I'd rather celebrate my last night of single life with my family." She said referring to her friends. Her family were actually probably on a plane right this moment, making their way to Tree Hill for the wedding tomorrow. She felt Lucas's hand brush against her arm in a comforting way, once upon a time she would have melted inside at his touch but now it was more like a brotherly touch, which freaked her out slightly. "Okay…let's start tonight."

Brooke turned and watched as Peyton entered the restaurant from the kitchen. "Peyton?" She looked over to the back of the restaurant and then to her best friend who looked completely flawless tonight in a green Gucci thin strapped knee length dress with her perfectly loosened curled blonde locks resting beside her.

Peyton looked across and smiled awkwardly. "Hey…sorry I'm late." She watched as Brooke raised her brow intrigued but instead made her way towards the table. As she walked around the table, trying to find her space she smiled at each of the individuals sat there. She stopped behind the empty chair which had a small label place on the table in front reading 'Peyton Sawyer,' as she pulled out her chair she turned and looked down to the name tag that was sat beside hers…predictable, she thought.

Lucas pulled out his chair and sat down beside Peyton, feeling her arm brush against his as they jointly sat down. He turned and looked at her from the corner of his eyes, seeing that she was doing the same thing – but then she did something unexpected, she smiled at him. Confused but happily he returned her warm gentle smile.

"Are you baby James?" She asked looking across the table at the cute boy sat opposite her, who nodded in response. "Good genes, kid!" She looked across at Haley and winked playfully.

---

They had been inside the restaurant for the past four hours, reliving stories and memories about their high school years. Most of the stories were dedicated to Brooke and most of them had been traditionally embarrassing ones. Karen looked down at her gold plated watch, "I hate to be the one who breaks up the party, but it's time for you bed..." She said looking down at her daughter, who mostly resembled her but in part, especially the eyes looked exactly like her father. "You too kiddo!" She said looking across at James. She had offered to look after James, so that Haley and Nathan could have a night out tonight without having to worry about getting the boy home.

"Wait..." Lily pushed back on her chair and jumped from it. She ran around the side of the table to Peyton and looked up at her. "Peyton do you have it?" She asked hoping that she would.

Peyton nodded and stood up from the table. She walked across the restaurant, her black strappy heels clicking against the wooden oak as she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Have what?" Karen looked at Lily, confused like the rest of the people at the table.

Lily turned and looked back at Peyton, "I knew Peyton knew daddy…" She said about to explain her story. "And I knew that she dated Lucas…so I thought she might have a picture of the two of them together, one I hadn't seen before…so I asked her if she did and she told me she didn't but she had something else." Lily spoke with a slight lisp to her voice. She let out a deep yawn for being tired.

Peyton walked back inside of the restaurant carrying a large square painting showing off only the back of the frame to everyone. "I kind of improvised…" Peyton licked her lips nervously and turned the object around, showing off a still painting of Karen, Keith, Lucas and Lily, together as a family. She had made several attempts in the past month to complete the painting as she wanted to give the little girl something to remember her father by; "I hope it's not too creepy…I just." She shrugged; she didn't know what she wanted. Lily and cornered her in Karen's café just over a month ago and asked her a bunch of questions about Lucas and Keith and then had finally asked her whether or not she had a picture of them together, one she hadn't seen. Peyton felt bad for telling the girl that she didn't and had decided that she would see what she could do; her art had taken a back seat to her music career, so it was going to be a challenge.

Karen stood up and tilted her head looking at the painting, it looked so life like. She looked up at Peyton; tears had already formed in her eyes. "It's…" She looked down at the painting again and went to touch it but hesitated for a moment before brushing her hand against the canvas.

"It's so pretty!" Lily said looking at the painting. She recognised her father from the countless pictures and videos that her mother had shown her.

Karen nodded. "It's beautiful." She said her focus still on the painting.

Peyton shrugged and bashfully smiled, shaking her head. "I was gonna give it to you after the wedding…but I kind of had inspiration last night so I made a dash to my dad's house, collected the painting and took it back to Brooke's to finish." She looked at the hand that pressed against her shoulder and turned seeing Brooke standing beside her, smiling. Peyton turned and watched as Lucas approached the painting, she watched his movements closely.

"Damn that's one fine painting…" Skills added, approaching the painting with the rest patting Lucas's shoulder, turning to look back over at Peyton. "You got some mad skills, girl…"

Peyton shrugged and watched for a response from Lucas but couldn't make one out; he was just staring at the picture.

--

Over an hour had passed since Karen, James and Lily had left with the painting in tow. "Okay…" Brooke looked down at her white gold, diamond encrusted watch and sighed. "It's exactly thirteen hours until my wedding and I need my eight hour beauty sleep ritual and at least three hours for hair and two for makeup, so I'm going to have to call it a night."

Rachel scoffed, "You mean three hours sleep, two for hair and eight for make up." Rachel laughed at her own comment. The jokes had been rolling out all night in true Rachel Gattina tradition; she had missed the group she had been allowed into back in senior year. If you would have asked her back then whether she thought she would be friends with any of them now, she would have said no with confidence. This was the one time she was happy she was wrong.

"You mean eight hours sleep, five for hair and no time for makeup." Mouth insisted, "Brooke could look beautiful if she rolled out of bed and decided to get married in her pyjamas!"

"Aww!" The girls all muttered. Brooke stood up and walked over to Mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his cheek. As she pulled away she saw the pink stained lip imprint she had left on his cheek and grinned, "Marvin McFadden you are by far the best man I've ever known." She wasn't drunk, she was telling the truth.

"Right…well, before you go." Nathan stood up and sighed, "We have decided for one night only." He said watching as both Mouth and Skills stood up from the table. The three of them walked over to the back of the restaurant; Mouth and Skills began to move tables and chairs out of the way. Nathan walked into the kitchen and pulled out the portable CD player and pulled out a CD from the inside of his jacket pocket. As he placed the CD into the musical contraption, he turned around and shook his head with disbelief. "For one night only...we…" He paused said looking from left to right, from Mouth to Skills. "We would return." The song 'It's tricky' by Run DMC started blaring from the CD player.

Haley covered her eyes. "No, No, No…not again!"

Brooke looked around confused… "Am I getting strippers?"

Bevin laughed, "You missed out five years ago Brooke Davis…here are the three hot naked musketeers!"

Brooke turned with her gently black mascaraed eyes widening… "Oh my god…"

Peyton clapping along with the rest of the girls turned and watched as Lucas walked out of the restaurant. She turned and looked back at Brooke who was happily cheering and clapping at the boys who were dancing and slowly stripping off and stood up from the table. She followed Lucas out of the restaurant and stopped as he stopped. His back was to her, but she knew that he knew she was outside. "I'm sorry Lucas…"

Lucas turned around and looked at Peyton, startled not by her presence but by her words. "For what?" He asked confused.

"If the painting upset you…" She admitted honestly.

"No…" Lucas smiled gently at her, "It was beautiful, Peyton. It really was…" Lucas let out a deep sigh and leant back against the brick wall which separated him and her from the others. "It was just a reminder, of how things used to be…" He looked down at the floor and thought back to high school, the years which for the past five years he had considered the worst years of his life but tonight, he was thinking the complete opposite.

Peyton nodded and stood beside him, pressing her bare back against the cold brick wall, feeling the rough brick scrape against her back. "I'm sorry for last night too…" She paused and looked down to the floor, "I was angry and upset." She admitted, "I had been holding so much in for such a long time…that when I saw you again, it kinda all came out." She was being candid, too candid for her liking.

Lucas nodded knowing the feeling too well. "I miss you, Peyton." Lucas turned and looked at her.

At first she looked away, at her feet, in the sky anywhere to look away from him but she found herself turning her attentions to his baby blue eyes which had once captured her heart. "Don't you wish you could just have a happily ever after?" She asked breaking away from their deep conversation. "Too bad life's not like fairytales huh!" She felt their moment becoming too much and she knew that if they stood out here for longer they would just discuss the conversation they had last night, which would confuse her and anger her. "Let's go inside…" She said with her pleading eyes.

Lucas nodded, taking off his black suit Armani jacket, his small fortune from being a writer had made it so that he could buy expensive things and not have to worry about the cost; within reason. He walked up behind Peyton and rested the jacket on her shoulders.


	5. Chapter 5

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_Authors Note: once agani thanks for the reviews :) Um this chapter is basically opening old wounds...and putting everything out on the table, for Lucas and Peyton at least - so that their friendship or relationship as it may turn out, can move forward and evolve from what they had. Hope you enjoy._

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"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." 

- **V.M Lewis**

--

The typical girl starts to dream about her wedding at a young age, during middle school her dream groom was Jason Lemont, the cutest boy in her class but as she get older the idea of her wedding changed; it became bigger because she allowed herself to dream bigger. At sixteen her dream wedding took place at sunset on a deserted beach in the Bahamas, her dream groom was the cute but goofy Ryan Reynolds, the actors from Two Guys and a Girl. At twenty three her idea of a wedding had changed dramatically – she no longer craved the big wedding ceremony but an intimate one with only friends and family present. She had planned the perfect day. She had the perfect wedding dress. She was going to have the perfect wedding. "My perfect day is a perfect disaster." She spoke to herself, lifting up the bottle of Cristal she had stolen from the champagne crate inside of the gazebo. Taking a few mouthfuls before pulling the bottle away, she licked round her lips. "Who's getting married in the morning..." She sung to herself, "Brooke's not the one getting married in the morning." She continued to sing, changing the words. "Brooke's not getting married in the morning..." She bit down on her unchaped, unglossed lip.

"Brooke?" Rachel called out skipping down the stairs in an unusual upbeat manor. Brooke had asked her to stay t-total last night but had found herself too tempted by the shots that were going around the table after dinner and ended up being carried home by Brooke and Peyton. "Brooke..." Rachel walked into the dining room and raised her brow at the sight, "What the hell?" She looked Brooke up and down, her hair was a mess and hadn't been washed, she was still dressed in her dressing gown and she was drinking champagne and eating cake. "You know you're not supposed to become a desperate alcoholic housewife until at least two years into the marriage."

Brooke frowned looking up at Rachel, "Well in order to become a desperate alcoholic housewife, I need to get married first." She slammed the bottle of Cristal against the table and picked up her silver fork, pulling the plate of chocolate cake towards her. Digging into the cake with the fork, she lifted it to her mouth and began to eat it. "My perfect day is a perfect disaster." She spoke chewing on the cake.

"Okay – you've completely lost me!" Rachel shook her long red locks and rolled her eyes, "Whatever – your stylist is going to be here in ten minutes and if you keep eating that cake then I doubt you'll fit your fat ass into your dress." Rachel walked over to the table and looked down at Brooke, placing her hands on her hips. "So enough of the self pity party for one...get your ass up and get dressed."

Brooke looked up at Rachel and shrugged, "What's the point?" She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the chocolate cake; the chocolate cake which had originally meant to be served at her reception but as there wasn't going to be reception now, she decided that she would just eat her troubles away. "I haven't eaten cake in sooo long..." She said looking at the cake with a sad smile.

Rachel turned away and walked out of the dining room to greet Peyton at the bottom of the stairs. Rachel looked her up and down; she was dressed in a pair of low riding blue jeans and a grey stereophonics tee. "What the hell's going on?" She asked completely confused as to why the bride to be was sitting drinking away her sorrows and the maid of honour was dressed in her usual getup.

Peyton sighed stepping off of the stairs. She slowly peered around the corner, looking into the dining room at Brooke who was sadly engrossing herself in chocolate cake and champagne. "Mark phoned her this morning..." Peyton turned around to look at Rachel and frowned, "His mother had a minor heart attack last night so they flew up to New York earlier this morning so she could get treatment from her own doctor because apparently here in Hicksville the doctors are not up to her snooty standards..."

"Minor heart attack my ass..." Brooke called out, listening to their conversation. She looked up to the doorway and watched as Peyton and Rachel made themselves visible to her, "She had a panic attack – no doubt self inflicted by the thought that someone like me is marrying into her upper class family." Brooke attacked her cake and frowned. "That old hag..." She said stabbing her cake as Peyton sat down opposite her. "My life sucks..."

Rachel walked around the side of the dining room and picked up another bottle of Cristal. Popping the cork, she put the bottle to her mouth and drank the fizz/champagne which overflowed over the top. Pulling the chair out from under the table, she sat down beside Brooke, placing the bottle of champagne in front of her. "Let's not go there...you have a successful fashion label, you get photographed with celebrities." Rachel looked at Brooke, whose attention was now focused on her. "I own a bar down in the middle of nowhere, and a mortgage which is severely kicking my ass not to mention all of the guys who walk through the door are married, middle aged bald men who come by just for a peak at the girls." She said referring to her breasts. "So boo hoo for you Brooke." Rachel spoke sarcastically as she picked up the bottle of champagne and drank from it.

Peyton rolled her eyes at the two of them, were they seriously trying to have a...my life sucks more than yours does. Scoffing she frowned, "Really are we going there?" She smirked and lent back in her chair, "'Cause I'm pretty sure two dead mothers, stalked by a psycho, abandoned by your father and cheated on by the only guy you've ever really loved and opened yourself up to...trumps both of your self-pity parties!" Peyton said, acting carefree and joking about her own misfortunes.

"Lucas cheated on you?" Rachel asked curiously. "Damn, I guess you two do have more in common than I thought." She said referring to Brooke and Peyton. "See this is why I don't get attached – there is no way for your heart to get broken that way." Rachel smirked almost proud of the fact that she's never let any guy get that close to her.

"Yeah but if you don't let someone in then you're missing out on love..." Brooke spoke idealistically. Until last year she would have probably have had the same opinion as Rachel, her last few boyfriends hadn't exactly been the loves of her life, but Mark was different. He treated her differently than any other of her boyfriends had treated her; she had come first to him. Brooke turned and looked down at the table at Peyton, "Wait...Lucas cheated on you?" She asked loudly, as she was processing the thoughts through her mind. "You went to being little miss crazy because that broody hooked up with another whore?"

Peyton shrugged, "its water the bridge." She lied. "Besides that wasn't the only reason." Peyton had never told anyone about the baby that had died in uterus at eleven weeks; she had told herself that it wasn't really a baby and that she hadn't lost a baby because she never really had one. "So – what are you gonna do about the wedding?" Peyton asked curiously.

"What can I do?" Brooke smirked, "My fiancée is in New York tending to his so called sick mother, and I can hardly kick his ass to the curb for being a caring son..." She rolled her eyes, "Unfortunately." Brooke looked down at the table; the thing that really made her upset was that he had waited until he was on the plane halfway to New York before calling her to tell her. "I guess it'll just have to be postponed." Brooke smirked, "Though I'm sure that's not what the old hag wants...she probably thought I was going to have some prima donna fit and cancel the whole thing, well no, I'm not giving her the satisfaction of seeing me all worked up." Brooke shook her head, "I'm fine." She said again confidently.

"Right – you're fine." Rachel said disbelievingly. "Everyone who is fine drinks at..." She looked down at her silver playboy watch and smirked, "Ten thirty in the morning." Rachel looked back up at Brooke and raised one of her brow.

"I am fine..." Brooke paused and looked tilted her head at the auburn girl sat beside her "Besides you're drinking too!" She said accusingly.

"Yeah, but I'm sympathy drinking...I didn't want you to get drunk alone." Rachel retorted quickly.

"God, who'd have thought I would turn out to the sane one." Peyton observed

--

Lucas tapped gently on the backdoor to the Scott house and turned the handle opening the door. "Anyone home?" He asked quietly as he peeked around the door and saw Haley sat at the breakfast table, reading the local newspaper. He smirked and tilted his head reading the main caption. "You know you should really expand your horizons." Lucas walked further into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. "The Tree Hill News?" He asked questioningly. "You're supposed to be an intellect; you should be reading the New York Times or something other than the latest scandal to hit the streets of Tree Hill."

Haley looked over her shoulder at Lucas and raised his brow, "Says the fake New York native." Haley grinned and closed the newspaper turning around on her chair to look up at Lucas, "There's some fresh coffee in the pot." Haley had gotten up this morning at six thirty, her usual wake up time and had followed tradition – going downstairs and brewing herself a cup of coffee. Usually she would share the pot with Nathan but he didn't wake up until an hour ago. "Nathan's gone for a run; he should be back soon." Haley watched as Lucas poured himself a cup of coffee and laughed, she couldn't help it. They were grownups - it was so different having Lucas around. "Is your mom still okay with having James this afternoon?"

Lucas nodded as he took a sip of coffee from the mug, burning his mouth in the process. The coffee was fresh and fricken hot. Wiping the side of his mouth with his free hand and rubbing his tongue against the inside of his mouth to cool it down. "Lily's loving having another kid around, they were playing basketball this morning in the backyard – she actually beat him in a game of one on one." He said proud of his younger sister.

"God..." Haley rolled her eyes, "Don't tell Nathan that or he'll start recruiting her for his summer basketball league." Haley looked down at her wedding finger and gently touched it with her thumb, moving it. Looking back up at Lucas she frowned, "I take it you got the phone call from Brooke's PR Lindsay..." She said in a squeaky voice imitating the annoying girl who had phoned her at seven this morning

"Yeah – I can't believe it." He sighed and placed the coffee down on the kitchen worktop. "It's strange how quickly things can change." Lucas couldn't help but feel sorry for Brooke, if anyone deserved to be happy in love it was her, after all of the heartache he had put her through in high school he just wanted her to find someone who made her happy, and she had... "You spoke to her?"

Haley shook her head, "No, I was thinking of going over there a little later after she's had time to process everything." Haley sighed gently, "Well at least it's only a postponement – they're still getting married, just not today." She said trying to be optimistic for Brooke. "Sooo uh, how are you?" She asked curiously, "I mean after last night." Haley watched as Lucas tried to pretend as though he didn't know what she was talking about. She tutted, "Oh come on! You went outside – Peyton followed you and now you're playing dumb!"

Lucas laughed, it had been a while since he had seen Haley's desperation for gossip...actually the last time he had seen her like that was back in high school. "Nothing happened – she just came outside to make sure I was okay...and I am, I'm better than okay." He admitted. Being back in Tree Hill reawakened him in every way possible.

"Good..." Haley smirked at him, "Because if you're never not okay then you know my backdoor is always open." She turned and watched as the backdoor swung open, "Literally..." She responded and watched as her husband of almost six years entered the kitchen, completely covered in sweat. "Jeez, where did you run to the south pole?"

Nathan looked down at his body; he was wearing a Michael Jordan basketball shirt and his favourite pair of basketball shorts – the ones he had worn during practically every game he played in high school and in college. "Seven miles of sweat..." He winked at Haley playfully, "You know you love it." Walking into the kitchen he paused as he watched Haley tilt her head and raise her brow at him. Looking down at his shoes he sighed and kicked the left one off followed by the right.

"Thank you." Haley smiled

"Anything to keep you happy." He retorted jokingly. Walking over to the table he placed the pink leaflet he had been carrying for the past mile down. "I got handed this in the town centre."

"What is it?" Haley asked curiously as she felt Nathan walk up behind her, pressing his sweat filled body against her clean clothes. She would have shrugged him off her if he hadn't planted a soft kiss on the side of her face. Haley picked up the leaflet and read it carefully. "Brooke Davis formerly invites you, Tree Hill natives to the party of the decade. Dress code formal wear obviously – but not required." Haley raised her brow and looked up at Nathan. "Who gave you this?"

Nathan shrugged, "Don't know ...but she knew who I was..." Nathan turned and walked across the kitchen, nodding at Lucas. "Hey man." Opening one of the wooden cabinets above the kitchen worktop he took out a plastic cup and closed the cupboard behind him. "She had the world's most annoying voice..." Nathan said trying to get that high pitch voice out of his head. He lifted the water filter and poured himself a glass of water. "Oh my god...Nathan Scott." He said trying his best to repeat the girl's interaction with him, though his high voice sounded nowhere near as annoying or as high as hers. "It's gonna be the chucky nightmares all over again with a Janice like voice narrating" When he was younger, he and some friends had decided to watch Chucky – not the wisest decision he made at eleven, the weird evil child doll haunted his sleep for months after.

---

The party was in full swing; just as it would have been if it had been the reception. People were dancing away on the dance floor, eating the fine cuisine that one of New York's top chefs and an entourage of eight kitchen staff had prepared and drinking the late afternoon away. Lucas walked into the large backyard and raised his brow, "Whoa..." Everyone was dressed in formal wear; he looked down at his body and let out a gentle sigh. After he had left Haley and Nathan's earlier in the day he had gotten a phone call from Haley, who told him that the party was legit and that as a favour to Brooke both she and Nathan were going to go. He had invited him mother along but she declined – saying that she would rather wait until the real reception, so instead she opted out of the party and was taking care of Lily and James. He made his way down the steps, into the backyard...and saw Haley and Nathan ahead with Brooke – who was dressed in her wedding gown. Slowly he made his way over; glad that he had decided to get dressed into the black Armani tuxedo he had planned to wear to the wedding. " Wow..."

"Brooke's a little drunk." Haley blurted out quickly.

Brooke turned and looked at Haley, rolling her eyes. "It's my party tutor girl and I'm having a good time." She smirked as she turned back to Lucas. Earlier in the morning she and Rachel had made plans to have the party – she didn't want all of the good food to go to waste and in the process of getting ready she had opted to wear her wedding dress. Her long brown hair was straightened and barely had any volume, her make-up was minimal but she felt fantastic. "You're probably wondering why I'm wearing the dress..." She nodded at Lucas, "Well...when I do eventually walk down the aisle, I figured that I probably shouldn't do it in this dress..." Taking a step closer to Lucas, she whispered. "It's cursed!" Pulling back she lifted her finger to her mouth, motioning for him to keep quiet. "Mouth!" She squealed looking across the dance floor at Mouth, "I'm wanna dance with Mouth!" She wasn't as drunk as she was making out to be – but she was there to have a good time, with or without a white gold wedding ring on her finger. Stumbling away from the Scott clan, she made her way to the dance floor.

Lucas watched her go and looked from Nathan to Haley, "Okay...she's either taking it really well or..."

"Completely denying it?" Haley finished his sentence. "Rachel – who's actually more drunk than Brooke and barely dressed I might add..." She said referring to Rachel's short mini dress which left little to the imagination. "Said that they've been drinking since ten thirty – guess its fun to be them huh!" She added sarcastically.

"Wow..." Lucas looked across to the manor and saw Peyton perched on the steps leading up to the porch, she wasn't dressed formally – she was dressed in what he imagined she had been wearing all day. "I'll be right back..." Lucas felt Nathan pat him on the arm just as he took his first step away from the two of them. Slowly he made his way across the green grass, his hands inside of his trouser pockets. "Hey..." she looked so sad sitting by herself on the step; he had seen that look in her eyes before. "Weird day huh..." He said trying to make small conversation.

Peyton shrugged, "I guess." She frowned and watched Brooke dancing away on the dance floor. "I've never seen her like this before." Peyton had seen Brooke drunk many times and she had seen Brooke sad a few too but she had never seen Brooke so – fake. "She's pretending to have a good time so that people will think she's okay...but she's not okay." She said relating to Brooke's happy go lucky face. Standing up she stretched out her arms which lifted her tee slightly, showing off her flat stomach. "I would have left three hours ago – but I'm on Brooke watch, making sure she doesn't fall down and break her neck on the dance floor before Mark comes back and sweeps her off her feet" Looking down at Lucas she paused noticing his eyes weren't focused on her face but on her stomach – a few seconds later and he was still blissfully unaware that she was watching him, watch her. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked amused by his serious concentration on her stomach

Lucas looked up at Peyton, completely caught off guard. "What?" Lucas lifted his hand to his face and rubbed the side of his cheek. "Sorry – I was just thinking..."

"About?" Peyton watched as Lucas looked up at her and that's when she got it. "Oh..." Peyton shook her head, "No... Not happening." Peyton turned around and climbed the wooden steps to stand on the porch that surrounded the back of the house. Biting her bottom lip she turned back and looked at him, "Just leave it in the past, Luke..." She pleaded.

"I can't...I'm sorry!" Lucas walked up the steps and stood in front of her. "Peyton - I can't stop thinking about the baby we lost and what could have been..." Lucas was opening up to her, finally. After five years of being separated, a year's worth of phone calls unreturned and a visit to LA to specifically see her only to be turned away by some girl claiming she didn't know who Peyton was, they were finally going to have the conversation they should have had after she walked in on him in bed with a naked girl by his side.

"There was never a baby Lucas." She spoke in denial. "I never lost a baby because I never had a baby to lose, it was just a little thing, there for barely a second... and as for what we could have had, well you put the nail in that coffin the morning I walked in on you with the whore," she was borrowing Brooke's term for the naked girl she had found Lucas in bed with. Peyton ran her hands through her messy blonde curly locks and walked past Lucas, heading down off of the porch over towards the pool to get away from him and the conversation she just didn't want to have.

Lucas followed her, she couldn't drive away this time – she couldn't walk away, he was going to talk to her whether she wanted to listen or not. "Stop walking away..." He yelled after her. "And just talk to me..."

Peyton turned around and looked across to the party which had stopped – apparently Lucas's voice is like a fog horn, letting everyone know he was there. She turned back and looked at Lucas. "You really wanna know how I feel." Peyton looks directly into Lucas eyes and then bends over slightly letting out a loud, long, aggravated, five years in the making, built up scream, she turned and pushed the longue chair into the swimming pool. She continued to scream – the way a child who hadn't gotten their way would scream. With tears streaming down her face, she stopped screaming and just let breathed – trying to catch her breath. Walking up to him, she threw her hands against his chest and shoved him backwards "That's how I feel..." She spoke with her voice breaking from the screaming and the crying; that's how I feel... all of the time, she wanted to add but instead she just glared at him before storming away from the party after causing a scene.

Brooke turned and watched Peyton storm into the house – if she was drunk before she certainly wasn't anymore. She closed chewed on her bottom lip, as her eyes began to water. Peyton was more broken than ever.


	6. Chapter 6

"Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be."

- **Marsha Petrie Sue**

Misery loves company at least that's what they say. She was one of the few people who swam against the current; she didn't conform to the so called norm. Back in tenth grade when the girls in her class had the 'Rachel' hair cut – she had dark purple highlights put in her natural curly blonde hair. When everyone was listening to NSync and Backstreet Boys, she was listening to AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. Her misery didn't love company, in fact her misery loved the complete opposite; isolation. It was the only way she knew how to deal with sorrow, loss, anger, all of the emotions and feelings you would talk to a psychiatrist about. Last night in front of a party filled with people she didn't know, she had a long overdue outburst at Lucas Scott; he had been the root of her misery at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Tapping on the door, Brooke pushed the pine bedroom door open with her right hand, carrying a cup of fresh hot coffee in her left hand and walked into the pitch black room. As she took a step forward in the pitch black, she knocked into something large and painful, very painful for her toes. "Owww" She said over dramatically, it hurt but it wasn't that bad. "Peyton are you in here in the midst of all this dark and gloominess?" She raised her brow and stepped to the side of the room, running her right hand along the wall finding the light switch. Flicking it on she looked around the bedroom – it was the only guest room she had painted dark brown with matching dark brown curtains which kept the room dark – even blocking out the suns glare during the day. "Trust you to pick this room…" She muttered to herself as she walked up to the king size bed where Peyton was curled up in the dark brown bed silk bed sheets. "It's so dark and broody and totally you." Brooke placed the cup of coffee down on the pine bedside cabinet and sat down on the bed beside her horizontal friend. "Hey…" She smiled gently

Peyton had been curled up in the same position since last night, when she had stormed out of the party. She ran upstairs and slammed the bedroom door shut behind her, so that if anyone was following her they would know not to enter the room…and no one did. Staring up at Brooke from the covers, she kept the majority of her face covered with the soft silk sheets. "Sorry…" She apologised quietly, "I'm sorry for ruining your party." Peyton turned over so that her back was facing Brooke, she was just so tired – which made no sense considering she had just been asleep for fifteen hours.

Brooke's gentle smile faded and scooted her body down on the bed, lying down beside Peyton she looked at the back of her friend's messy blonde hair. "I shouldn't have even had the party." Brooke sighed gently, draping her arm over Peyton's hip. "That was the old, irresponsible Brooke – I should have done the compassionate thing and boarded a plane to go up and see Mark, and comfort him about his so called ill mother." Brooke hugged on Peyton, trying to comfort her. "But now I know I'm needed here more!"

Peyton half heartedly smiled, "I'm …" She was going to say okay but she knew that the time for lying about how she felt was at end, "I'll be okay…" Trying to sound optimistic she shuffled across the bed from Brooke's grip and then rolled over so that they were face to face. Pulling her face up from under the covers, "I felt I just needed to scream and let it all out…and I did, most of it at least…" It was taking her a lot of effort to keep her eyes open, she just felt so completely drained of everything – tears, love, hate, she was just so tired. "I was pregnant…" Peyton watched Brooke carefully. "For ten weeks I had a baby growing inside of me – and everything was so great." Peyton recalled, "Lucas had gone back to being …Lucas, and it seemed like we were back to being us." After Peyton had come back from LA – Lucas had changed, he was darker and distant but she loved him and she stayed with him. Six weeks later she found out she was pregnant, she had been so concerned about how to break the news to Lucas that she eventually just blurted it out over dinner and after the initial shock wore off; something must have clicked inside of him because he went back to being her Lucas. "The night after the check up where we found out the baby had died at nine weeks; Lucas went out and got drunk…" Peyton let out a deep sigh and curled the bed sheets in her hands, "The next morning…I walked in on him in bed and he wasn't alone…he had a naked woman beside him." Peyton couldn't believe she was finally opening up and talking about what had happened five years ago. "He said nothing happened…but I couldn't and didn't want to listen - I just needed to get away…so I went back to LA and I didn't look back." She felt like she needed to cry but she couldn't – she physically couldn't muster the energy or the tears. "So that's my E true Hollywood story…" She added, jokingly.

Brooke wiped away a tear from her eye and let out a long sigh, "Peyton…" She shuffled across the bed to be closer to Peyton, leaning her head forward she touched her forehead to Peyton's. She wanted to say, you should have told me …she wanted to do something that could help Peyton, but she didn't know what to say or what to do. So instead she was just going to be there- with her friend, in her time of need. "I'm here…"

"Thanks…" Peyton smiled and kept a tight hold onto the silk sheets which she been sleeping in for the past three nights.

"You know though…" Brooke pulled her forehead away from Peyton's and sat up on the bed, leaning her back against the large dark stained wooden headboard. "I'm a little disappointed in you P.Sawyer – Not to go all Brooke Davis bitch patrol on ya – but I would expect this from the broody, I –tend-to-bottle-up-my-emotions, Peyton Sawyer from junior year." Brooke looked down at Peyton and frowned, "You're a scrappy little fighter, always have been and always will be…" Brooke patted Peyton's head and rubbed her hand, "So get your skinny ass up out of these Dior sheets so my housekeeper can wash them – and jump in the shower, wash yourself and I'll have a tub of Ben and Jerry's, chips, dip, chocolate milkshakes and every other delicious treats you can imagine – ready in thirty minutes, for an all out DVD chick flick fest starting with the classic Dirty Dancing…" As much as she loved Peyton and as much as she wanted to give Peyton her space, enough was enough - She had been carrying around hefty emotional baggage for the past five years. "Drink the coffee which I made myself and please get your skinny white ass - moving." Brooke turned around and walked over to the large window, dragging the curtains back, opening them to let light into the room.

"Lovin' the compassion…" Peyton frowned, joking.

"You want compassion - buy a dog…" Brooke joked back.

"Aw but I have you..." Peyton sat up in the bed, running her hands through her messy curly locks.

"I'm gonna love ya and leave ya!" Brooke winked and headed across the bedroom, "Though if you're not out of that bed in the next ten minutes, I'm bringing the Nazi in here…" She smirked; the Nazi was what Peyton called Brooke's housekeeper. Peyton had told Brooke several times that the woman was just so cold towards her, constantly giving her the evil eye, passing along snide comments… "And you know I will!" She called out as she made her way down the corridor.

Peyton growled, getting up out of the bed. "I'm up!" She cried out, desperately not wanting the Nazi to come into her room. "I'm up!" Peyton sighed and walked over to the double set of mirrors and frowned at her reflection – she looked awful; she felt it and looked it. "Enough is enough." She spoke softly to herself.

--

--

Panting heavily came to a slow halt outside of his mother's café. Placing his hand against the brick wall as he tried to catch his breath he turned and looked at Nathan, who jogged up beside him – who put him to shame. Shaking his head he frowned and pulled his hand away from the wall, stretching his arm. "I've been hitting the gym – three days a week, every week for the past five years and here I am completely out of breath after running a five mile hike…" He was confused, back in high school he used to be able to fun five miles in a three quarters of the time it took him today. "I honestly thought I was in shape."

Nathan shrugged, stretching out his arms. "You are in shape…you're just used to running on a treadmill inside an over air conditioned, over priced New York gym." Haley had obviously had an impact on the way he responded to questions and thoughts. Nathan smirked, "You just forgot what it was like running with the big dogs…" He had been drilled by his father to keep in shape and run laps ever since he could remember, a tradition which though he hated at the time he understood why his father was so strict on him – he wanted the best for Nathan's future in sports. "So…you gonna be sticking around for the summer?" Nathan asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I think so…" Lucas had come home for one purpose, to find his voice again but so far all he had found was trouble everywhere he turned which perhaps wasn't a bad thing, considering things seemed like they did back in high school – when he had written his first novel. "Why?" Lucas asked curiously.

"I'm running a summer basketball programme at the school." Nathan turned and began to walk towards the entrance of the café. "Water?" He asked, breaking the conversation. As Lucas nodded he pulled on the door to the café and entered, "Anyways – the programme is opened to both sexes and all ages, and the response has been…great." Nathan walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of Evian water, turning back he walked across the café's floor to the counter and waited in line. "Skills is already helping out, but I think we could use another set of hands."

Lucas nodded, "Yeah – sure," Haley had told Lucas yesterday about Nathan's summer programme. It sounded like a great way for kids and teenagers to join together and practise basketball, not because they had to but because they wanted to. After all, the game was supposed to be about having fun – which is what the game had meant to him. He had never been pressured to play basketball because Dan had never been a factor in his life – Keith had always been the one to say play the game because you want to and not because you have to.

"Thanks." Brooke closed her cell phone and looked back at the person who was waiting for her to pay. "Sorry had to book a flight, my fiancée's mother had a panic attack the day before my wedding – no doubt a way to try and stop the wedding…" Brooke smirked, and picked up the brown paper bag. "And obviously you don't care" Babbling was definitely her trait "…how much was it?" Taking a twenty and a ten dollar bill out of her purse she placed it on the counter. "No change…consider it compensation for listen to a crazy lady's rant." She turned and began to walk away, stopping seeing Lucas and Nathan waiting in line – both dressed in sleeveless basketball t-shirts and long shorts. "Well, well, well look at what the cat dragged in all sweaty and gross." She looked up at Lucas and raised her brow, "Shouldn't you be off kicking the homeless?"

"Brooke…" Nathan watched her angry face turn from Lucas to him. "Nothing…" He took a step back from the conversation but kept watching with interest.

Brooke turned her attention back to Lucas "My boots were made for walkin' and if they weren't expensive, pretty Chanel boots then I'd walk all over you…so I'm just gonna use them to walk away." Brooke was about to walk away when she felt Lucas press his sweaty hand against her perfume moisturised arm. Looking up at him she raised her brow, "I have a body guard outside who will happily come in here and kick your scrawny ass with one scream…give me one reason why I shouldn't…"

Lucas closed his eyes, trying to let that last remark go. He hated being reminded that he was Dan's son, let alone being compared to him. "She told you…" Lucas opened his eyes and looked at Brooke who just stared at him as though he were dirt on the bottom of her expensive boots.

"Damn right she told me…five years and Peyton finally cracked, I guess I have you to thank for that." Brooke frowned and looked down at her Dolce and Gabana watch she had received this morning from Mark, his way at an apology for having to postpone the wedding. He wasn't trying to buy her off, she knew that. She knew that he was just trying to make her happy – and if she wasn't going to be his wife, then jewellery was definitely the next best thing. "I've gotta go…Peyton and I have a DVD marathon to go through and then I'm off to New York for a day to see my monster in law, put meetings on hold and try to convince everyone to come back here to Hicksville…" She said commenting about Tree Hill the same way her future mother in law had done, "for my second attempt at a wedding… there's no way in hell I'm giving that old hag a chance to talk Mark out of marrying me." Brooke tapped her Chanel boots against the wooden floor and let out a deep sigh and paused, "Be at mine for six sharp, broody. I can't guarantee she'll speak to you but I can guarantee my housekeeper won't kick you out of the house."

"Thank you Brooke…" Lucas lifted his hand from her arm and felt the tips of his mouth curve upward slightly, his impression of a grateful, small smile. "I mean it…"

"I know you do…just mean it later on." Brooke looked up at Nathan and raised her brow, "And you…take a shower and romance your wife, let her know you're still madly in love with her." She frowned, "That's all a girl really wants to know…." Brooke strutted away from the two Scott brothers, her long spritzed brown luscious locks flowing freely behind her as she exited the building.

Nathan turned and looked at his older brother, he wasn't the gossiping or really the interested type but he desperately wanted to know what happened between Lucas and Peyton – what could have been so bad that things between them were on such shaky, unstable ground. He smirked and patted his brother's back, "At least she didn't kick your ass – I'm pretty sure those fricken heels would have done some damage!"

--

--

Nathan walked through his back door which led into his kitchen and saw Haley standing in front of the oven, preparing their cook lunch. It was a Sunday ritual; he would go out for a mid morning run and then would come home to the wonderful smell of chicken, turkey, beef or pork being cooked. Walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and let down, resting his chin on top of her shoulder, "I love you and all you do…"

Haley tilted her head and looked at her husband curiously, "What did you break?"

Nathan grinned, "Nothing…" He watched as Haley gave him the look as if to say, seriously what did you break? "Honest, I just wanted to tell you that I love you…" Nathan let out a small sigh and planted a quick but tender kiss on her lips, "Don't ever forget it."

"I won't" Haley grinned and turned around as Nathan walked away from her. Her smile faded as she watched James run into the kitchen, his clothes completely drenched in dirt. "Whoa – outside with those dirty shoes, buddy!"

James tilted his head and looked up at his mother, "Mom…" He took a step forward and paused watching as his mother's attention went from his face to his feet. Stopping he smiled sweetly, the sweetest smile he could muster. "I love you, you know that…"

Haley watched as Nathan stopped and turned around, she raised her brow and looked down at her son. "What did you break?"

James looked bit his bottom lip and then turned to look up at Nathan who nodded towards the back door, telling him to go. Running across the kitchen, he pulled open the back door and sprinted out in the back yard.

Nathan smirked and watched as Haley shook her head. "What?"

--

--

"Do you not understand the term sabbatical-" Peyton frowned talking into her cell phone, she had been on the phone with her boss at the record label. Stretching her legs out on the expensive bed sheets, she sighed. "No…no, I'm not organizing any concerts, I'm not scouting for new bands…I'm taking some time for myself." Her relationship with her boss was complex to say the least; they had a fiery work relationship and often disagreed about which bands to promote, sign and tour. However out of work, their relationship was fairly solid; "Okay Dave…I will listen to local bands when I'm out, but that's it, I am not going out of my way to go scouting." Peyton looked up from the dark brown sheets and saw Lucas standing beside the door, obviously she hadn't heard him come in. "Dave, I'll talk to you later." Closing her cell phone she put it down on the bed sheet, "My boss…I didn't hear you come in."

Lucas had gently tapped on the bedroom door before entering but Peyton hadn't heard him, she was busy talking on her cell phone. "I didn't want to interrupt." He responded as he took a couple of steps towards her. She was dressed from what he could tell in a pair of denim jeans, a black tee with her curly blonde locks tied back. Resting his hands on his jean pockets, with his thumbs inside he unsurely swayed on his feet. "Um…"

Peyton looked up at Lucas and sighed, "Why don't we just rip the band aid off?" In the past five years she had become very candid at work, with bands and even her boss. It was time for her to put her straight forwardness into her everyday life. She picked up her cell phone from the bed and leaned across placing it on the wooden bedside cabinet. Turning back she looked up at Lucas, he was dressed casually in a pair of denim jeans and a grey hoodie. Tapping her manicured hand against the bed, she motioned for him to sit down. Peyton's emerald green eyes followed Lucas as he did what she asked, his body sat two feet away from hers, she could smell his cologne – he smelt good. "I'm sorry about last night – I had just been holding everything in for so long, I guess it just needed to come out…I guess in an obnoxious child like scream" She joked, trying to make light of the situation.

Lucas leaned across and rested his hand on top of hers, looking into her beautiful green eyes. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Peyton."

Peyton nodded, "I know…" She looked down at his hand on top of hers; his hand felt warm and a little sweaty which she figured was either from the unbearable heat outside or his nerves. Looking up at him, she bit her bottom coconut flavoured lip "I didn't want to listen before…" Five years ago or last night, "But I'm ready to now." Peyton pulled her hand back, resting both of her hands on the bed and pushed her body backwards, so that her back was resting against the large headboard.

Lucas turned around and lifted his body off of the bed with his hands, shuffling backwards so that he was sat beside Peyton. Leaning back against the headboard, he looked down at his feet. His legs were only slightly longer than hers, he turned his head slightly and looked at her, and she was staring at her own feet like he had been staring at his. "If there's one thing I need you to know Peyton, is that I never…"

The tall blonde interrupted him "I know…" She knew that he was going to say that he never slept with the naked girl she found in his bed. Peyton turned and looked at him, nodding. "I needed an excuse to go – and that gave it to me." Honesty again, well maybe she was changing. Peyton tilted her head slightly and rested her head against his shoulder. "I know we're not the same people that we were." Peyton licked her lips, maybe she appeared to be the same neurotic, unsure Peyton Sawyer that had left Tree Hill but she wasn't. Now she was a lot more honest with people and firmer with what she wanted and what she didn't not to mention she was tougher than she had used to be, it took a lot for her to have a breakdown. "But do you think it's possible that we can be friends?"

Lucas nodded, he had never thought of Peyton as a friend, not really. They had always been something more, even when they weren't supposed to be. "Yeah…" He wasn't going to delude himself; he may have still been in love with Peyton but maybe there was too much water under the bridge – maybe there wasn't, the only way he would ever find out would be to be her friend and see where things went from there. Looking down on the top of her curly blonde hair, he took in her scent. Her hair smelt coconuty – he deducted that it had been washed earlier in the day and "Yeah…I think we can." He said repeating himself, hoping.


	7. Chapter 7

Life is never simple or easy for that matter. Lucas Scott had found that at an early age: abandoned by his father, raised by his single working class mother, ignored by his step-brother – he had always been on the outside looking in at what could have been. During his junior year he was introduced to that world and as he was accepted into the fold of the populars, his life only got more complicated. Over his last two years of high school, he had dated and come between two best friends, suffered the death of his uncle whom he always considered more of a father than an anything else and had witnessed his own so called father's imprisonment for shooting his uncle. Complicated? That was only the beginning…Lucas frowned at his computer screen, over the past week he had once again experienced the anguish of writers block. "Damn it…" He slammed his laptop screen down out of frustration and let out a deep sigh.

"Knock, knock." Karen tapped gently at her son's bedroom door and peered in. "Hope I'm not interrupting." She said as Lucas turned to look at her.

Lucas shook his head, "I actually welcome the interruption." Lifting up his laptop from his lap, he placed it on the bed next to his body. "I haven't been able to write anything this week, I start to and then nothing –I can't find any inspiration..." Leaning back against his head board he let out a long sigh and stared up at the ceiling in despair.

Karen walked over to Lucas's bed and sat down in front of him, tilting her head slightly "Didn't you say you managed to write something last week?" Karen watched Lucas whose attention was still fixated on the ceiling nod his head. "Well has anything happened since then?" Karen smiled.

"No…not that I can think of." He had spent this past week doing everyday things; picking Lily up from school, having dinner with Haley, Nathan and James. His week had been very much uneventful compared to the previous week.

Karen nodded, "Well you managed to write something last week during all of the excitement and drama." She said referring to Brooke's engagement party, almost wedding and Peyton's coming back to town. "Possibly what's encouraging you to write is being back here in familiar surroundings or maybe and I'm thinking more than likely that it's being back within the presence of a certain someone that inspired you."

Lucas raised his brow at his mom and shook his head, "I don't know what you're talking about." Lucas spoke in denial, though he knew it was more than likely. Back when he had written his first novel, he had just experienced Keith's death and had broken up with Brooke – which is when Peyton came into the scene. She was always there for him, she had been a friend he could count on.

"Mm hmm" Karen murmured knowing full well that Lucas was playing dumb. "So you got any plans for the rest of the day?" She asked curiously, "'Cause you know the carnival is in town tonight – Ferris wheel, waltzers…could be fun."

Lucas shook his head, "I don't know…maybe." Lucas climbed off his bed and stood up, stretching his body. "You want me to pick Lily up from school?" He had dropped Lily off at the high school earlier in the morning for the basketball day camp Nathan was running throughout the summer.

"If you're offering!" Karen grinned and turned around, with Lucas's washing basket in her hands. "Maybe you could see if Peyton wants to go to the carnival." She said as she walked out of his bedroom, sticking her nose in and giving some advice which was a mother's right.

--

--

Brooke walked out of Karen's café, following Peyton. Holding her take away vanilla latte in her hand she frowned as she looked down at her Abercrombie and Fitch pink flats, "I think I should have bought the blue." She looked up at Peyton and grinned, "Pink make my feet look fat!"

Peyton laughed, "You're feet aren't fat. And they don't look fat." Peyton rolled her eyes, why was it a girl's need to always comment and criticize her own appearance. Peyton had never really been like that – she had always been skinny and never thought of herself as fat or overweight. "Stop changing the subject," Peyton paused and took a sip of her coffee. "I thought you couldn't make it back to Tree Hill for another week, what happened?" Peyton had been spending the last week at Brooke's manor on the edge of Tree Hill. Though she was supposed to be on sabbatical from work, she had found herself travelling up and down the east coast this past week checking out various bands.

"The reason I couldn't hall ass back to Tree Hill sooner was because I had a bunch of meetings with retailers and other designers….not to mention I was trying to convince Mark to come back to Tree Hill to marry me." Brooke let out a deep sigh, allowing the words just to roll out of her mouth without even thinking about it. Peyton was her best friend and it wasn't like she wasn't used to opening up to people. "And you know what he said after a four days of making me wait, he said he sure because mommy dearest still wasn't well and that he was having second doubts about getting married at such a young age." Brooke shrugged it off as though it didn't matter to her.

"Then what?" Peyton asked, intrigued by Brooke's story. Brooke had been planning her wedding for the past six months; she had put so much thought and effort into the wedding that she felt so completely devastated for her best friend when the wedding didn't happen as planned.

"I told him that he had two choices; to marry me or not to. At the end of the day, I love him but if he's having second thoughts about being with me, it makes me have second thought about being with him. I want somebody to love me and want me for who I am, and have the guts to stand up to his mother, which apparently Mark can't or wait." Brooke lifted the cardboard cup to her mouth and took a sip of her latte. "So then I told Kacee, my business adviser that I was doing a P.Sawyer and taking a sabbatical from work and to only contact me in an emergency."

"You're taking a sabbatical from the company you own?" Peyton repeated, disbelievingly. It must be an easy life for Brooke – minus the guy drama, though Peyton has had her own fair share of that "…and what about Mark?"

"P.Sawyer, I may own the business but it doesn't mean I run it! Kacee runs the business from day to day – I just design and organise Clothes over Bros fashion week …" Brooke paused and continued "and as far I'm concerned, Mark will simply have to pull his finger out of his butt and come and find me." Brooke grinned looking across the street, seeing the blonde haired boy she had once called a boyfriend. "So…uh, how's Lucas these days? You still pretending you don't love each other?"

Peyton rolled her eyes, "We're friends Brooke okay, just friends!"

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Brooke spoke sarcastically with a grin planted on her face as she watched Lucas cross the street and walk towards them. Brooke turned and looked at her best friend, to watch her reaction; there had to be something there. As Peyton turned to look at Lucas, Brooke saw Peyton smile – not the usual, I'm okay Peyton Sawyer smile but a real smile which completely lit up her face. "Thought so…Hey broody" Brooke turned back and looked at Lucas.

"Hey Brooke…Peyton." Lucas nodded to both of the girls. "Haven't seen you around this week," He spoke to Peyton, his focus completely on her emerald coloured eyes.

"Yeah, I've been going up and down the coast doing some scouting." She said referring to her band scouting. She had been talked into doing a little bit of work during her so called time off. "My boss just can't take no for an answer." She said trying to stop an awkward pause from occurring. "So are you heading to the carnival tonight?" She asked keeping the conversation going,

"You should…we should all go together." Brooke interrupted before Lucas had a chance to answer. "You, Peyton, Me, Haley, Nathan, James, Skills, Mouth…we should make a night of it." If only to try to get you and Peyton to confess that you're both still madly in love with one another, she thought to herself.

"Yeah that would be-"

"Lucas!"

Lucas recognised that voice. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, this wasn't going to be pretty. Turning around he watched as the tall blonde woman dressed in a pair of knee high black boots, a black skirt pin striped skirt and a white shirt approached the three of them. "Holly…what are you doing here?"

Holly grinned, "I fly over a thousand miles to see you and the first thing you ask me is what are you doing here?" She rolled her eyes, it was just like Lucas to be so well, unthoughtful. Taking a step closer to him, she planted a kiss on his lips which he pulled back from after a second – to make it more of an hello kiss rather than a girlfriend greeting her boyfriend. She turned and looked at the two girls, both of whom she recognised but she wasn't sure from where. "Hi I'm Holly…Lucas's editor and girlfriend."

Brooke's mouth dropped open out of surprise, "Oh…" Brooke turned and looked at Peyton and then back to Lucas. "Hi." Brooke closed her mouth and forced a smile on her face, Lucas had a girlfriend and here he was making I want you eyes at Peyton? Jerk. "I'm Brooke Davis." His girlfriend was pretty –obviously a Peyton knock off with the blonde hair and skinny legs. If Lucas was looking for a good replacement, then he had certainly found one. Brooke gathered by her lined-free face that she was probably twenty five, which made her a little impressed that she was already an editor.

"Oh my god – no way," Holly squealed, "I'm such a huge fan! I so loved your fall campaign, it rocked." Holly sounded like a teenager gushing over a movie star. She turned and looked at Peyton, tilting her head slightly. She recognised her too, "I recognise you – are you one of the models from the campaign?"

Peyton kept her attention on the new girl standing in front of her, trying her best not to look at Lucas – she knew that if she looked at him, her fake smile would fade and she wouldn't be able to hide her disappointment. Peyton laughed at Holly's comment "A model, uh noooo!" She extended the no to emphasise her answer, "I'm Peyton…" Peyton reached out her hand to greet the girlfriend

"Peyton." Holly repeated her name with a slight loathing in her voice, "Peyton?" Holly shook her head and turned to look at Lucas who was just watching the commotion take place. Holly crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Lucas, "Seriously, Lucas?" Holly shook her head, now she knew why Lucas left her in New York with barely a goodbye. The girl who had been holding a shadow over their year relationship was standing in front of her "What the hell is going on?"

Lucas turned and looked at Peyton apologetically and then back to Holly, "Can we not get into this here?" He asked quietly, getting more embarrassed by the second.

"Um, we should uh…" Awkward much! Peyton turned and looked at Brooke, grabbing a hold of her arm. "We're gonna go"

"What, why?" Brooke asked looking at her best friend, she wanted to watch the scene which was about to take place. The leggy blonde girl from New York giving Lucas a smack down was definitely going to be worth watching.

Peyton tugged at Brooke's arm and smiled at Holly, trying her best not to look as though she were enjoying the moment because she wasn't, far from it. "It was nice to meet you Holly." She lied as she pulled an unwillingly Brooke away from the scene.

Lucas watched as Peyton and Brooke walked away from them down the street, he turned and looked at Holly. He had been putting off this conversation for some time – well since the morning after they first met. "What are you doing here, Holls?" He thought it was a fair enough question, he had told her that he was going home to find his motivation to write, which he had kind of done and lost again.

"What are you doing, Luke?" Holly frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "You told me that you were going back to Tree Hill to get over your writers block, not to get back together with your ex girlfriend."

Lucas sighed, "It's not like that" Lucas paused, "I didn't know she would be here and we're just friends." He spoke trying to defend himself and not doing a very good or convincing job. "Besides, we agreed that we would take some time apart." After which he had hoped they would have both moved on and be in a peaceful place so that they could end things – mutually.

"Time yeah, not distance." Holly let out a deep sigh, "Just be straight with me Lucas, are we over?"

Holly had always been straight forward with him, no matter what the topic. If he hadn't been so hung up on the past and on Peyton, he probably could have loved her but it just wasn't the case. "Yeah…" He said dejectedly, he didn't like hurting people especially people who he generally cared about. "I'm sorry."

Holly nodded, "Okay." She said simply, it wasn't like she hadn't been expecting it. For the past few months Lucas had been completely missing in action from their relationship – when they went out to dinner, he was always staring into space thinking about who knows what.

"Are we okay?" Lucas asked hopeful.

"Well…" Holly clenched her fist and thrusted at his arm, not to make it hurt but just to make a point. "That's for being an ass…" Holly rolled her eyes, "You are so lucky that you're a good writer otherwise this break up would have been a whole lot worse!" She turned and linked arms with him, starting to walk down the street. "So here's the deal, get your writers block butt in gear and start writing and we'll be okay."

Lucas nodded and smiled, "I'll try to." So it wasn't exactly how he thought their break up was going to go, he had played it out so many times in his head and at each of his scenarios he had been smacked across the face several times and had in even one scenario had a glass thrown at his head. "I don't suppose you wanna come to a carnival tonight, do you?"

"You broke up with me two seconds ago and now you're asking me out on a date? Luke, you really are clueless." Holly joked and continued to walk, "I would love to come and watch you squirm…" which was definitely probable if she and Peyton were to meet again, the two exes, not exactly a guy's fantasy. "But I'm catching the red eye back home tonight, I just wanted to come and sort this out…us and I guess now that I have, I can go home and flirt with all the guys I want and not feel guilty about doing it"

Lucas laughed, "Did you feel guilty before?" He asked, she was a notorious flirt in New York, not that it really ever bothered him.

Holly laughed and clutched onto his arm, "No!"

--

--

Brooke looked up to the ferris wheel and waved to her godson, James who was in one of the carriages with his father. "So Lucas didn't tell you he had a girlfriend?" Brooke asked turning to look at Haley who simply shook her head.

"No, I knew that he was casually seeing some girl but he never called her his girlfriend." Haley sighed, all of this drama reminded her of high school but unlike then – it seemed as though she and Nathan had gotten off easily. They hadn't had any real big issues for a couple of years, which also made her worry and think that perhaps they were due for something to happen. "So this girl, Holly…she just showed up out of the blue?"

Brooke nodded, "Yeah and let's just say she didn't look to happy to see Lucas pining away after Peyton." She grinned knowing it was wrong to be happy that the blonde guy she had once called her boyfriend, was still in love with her best friend. They were completely suited to one another, she didn't understand why the two of them just didn't get together. Okay, so there was history, big deal. It's history, in the past meaning that it shouldn't ruin your future. "Though she acted like my biggest fan which made me instantly like her." Anyone who worshipped her, was welcome to. "You'll probably get to meet her – she'll almost certainly be attached to Lucas's hip tonight."

"I don't think so." Lucas said approaching the two girls from behind, his best friend and Brooke were talking about him – what a shock. Over the past couple of weeks he had been hot topic of conversation in their little group. "We ended things…" He looked at Brooke who just raised her brow at him, unconvinced. "It was mutual, things hadn't been working for a long time and we both knew it was coming."

"Right, so why didn't you say…hey Peyton guess what, while I'm giving you puppy-dog-I-love-you-eyes, I'm actually banging my editor." Brooke spat back at him, as though she had just caught him cheating on her. Maybe she was just being a little too protective of Peyton and a little bitter at love, since Mark hadn't called her.

"Brooke!" Haley sighed, "That was a little harsh don't ya think?"

"But completely just." Brooke responded, "You and Peyton can pretend the two of you are just friends but you're not fooling anyone and she's over there" Brooke turned and looked over to Peyton who was standing at the basketball booth, trying to throw one of those red basketball through a hoop. Brooke watched as Lucas left her and Haley's side. "Can't they see that it's just meant to be?" Brooke let out a long deep sigh of frustration, why couldn't anything be simple?

Peyton lifted her arms in the air, holding the bar. Jumping slightly she through the ball at the hoop and watched as the ball bounced against the backboard and roll back down to the booth.

"You're not following through." Lucas spoke, watching her carefully. He took a couple of steps to stand by her side and picked up the basketball in his hands. "When you shoot, you wanna aim for the black line just above the net, extend your arm…" Which he did, "And throw" He threw the ball and watched as it went straight through the hoop.

"Yeah but I wasn't co captain of the ravens for two years." Peyton joked back and picked up the ball which had just gone through the hoop. "So where's your girlfriend and should I be watching my back" Peyton asked, jumping straight into the conversation. There was no point beating around the bush, it was time to go back to the Peyton attitude she had adopted over the past couple of years. The straight forward Peyton, "You know for possible daggers." She said referring to Holly's very forward dislike of Peyton.

Lucas laughed and shook his head, "Your back is safe." He picked up the ball and stared up at the basketball net. "And she's not my girlfriend." He said clarifying the situation. "We've been dating on and off for the past year, mostly off…and she came here to get some clarification."

"Lucas you don't need to-"

"I know." Lucas said interrupting her, "But I want to." Lucas smiled down at Peyton and gave her a quick once over. She was dressed in a blue denim skirt, white flats and a white shirt which was unbuttoned about half way showing the black thin strapped top she was wearing underneath. Licking his lips, he took a step behind Peyton and raised the ball over her head. "Grab the ball."

Peyton turned and faced the basketball net, and reached up grabbing the ball from Lucas's hand. "I can do it…" She threw the ball, her right hand following through knocking the ball further watching as bounced against the strong plastic basketball rim and then circle it slightly before dropping through the net. "See…" Peyton looked over her shoulder back at Lucas and grinned, "I can do anything I put my mind to."

"I know." Lucas without thinking, rested his hands gently on her hips as he stared into her eyes. After a moment he looked down at his hands and pulled them from her hips, sucking on his bottom lip. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Peyton grinned and turned her body to face Lucas. It felt good looking into those soft baby blues, which were so inviting. Earlier she had been jealous seeing him with that girl. She had definitely felt the green eyed monster rearing its ugly head, leaning up in her white flats she moved her face closer to his and closed her eyes. As she was about to kiss him she felt her body get knocked into. Looking down, she saw James wrapped around her legs. "Hey…" Her voice was a little shaky, had she just tried to kiss Lucas. "Have fun on the ferris wheel?"

James nodded, "Yeah but dad and mom are too scared to go on the Body Slammer. Will you come on with me?" He grinned up at pretty Peyton Sawyer. "Pleasseee!" He begged.

"You want me to go on the body slammer?" She looked over to the ride, which was little cars that seated two people, they were turning and going up and side down, going really fast. "Dangerous ride.." She looked down at James and grinned, "I'm your girl."

"Yesss!" James jumped up and down and grabbed Peyton's hand.

Peyton looked at Lucas and smiled gently, "The dangerous life calls."

Lucas nodded watching as Peyton walked away, being led by his nephew. He turned and watched as Haley walked up beside him. "Peyton almost kissed me." Lucas repeated those words in his head, he hadn't imagined it. Peyton had leaned in to kiss him and he was all ready to kiss her – he had been waiting to kiss her for five years. "Peyton almost kissed me." He repeated, letting it sink in. Friends? Thought not.


	8. Chapter 8

_"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow"._

----------------------------------------------

Most people would spend a ridiculous amount of money opening up to a shrink; in the past she had spent a ridiculous amount of money opening up to a shrink which was money down the drain. If there was one thing she hated and that was wasting money on something trivial when it could have been spent on something meaningful, like the eight hundred dollar white strapped stripper platform Dolce heels she had admired in Macy's the last time she was in New York. No she didn't need a shrink to identify what was making her miserable and overbearingly interfering in other people's lives, other people being Peyton and Lucas. She was lonely, pure and simple. Mark hadn't come to sweep her off her feet ala Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, but then again why had she expected such a romantic gesture, he was a momma's boy, always and forever and when it came to fiancée or mother, mother was in and she was out.

Brooke pulled the satin bedcovers from her body and gently sighed; she had been awake for a little over half an hour but had absolutely no motivation to get up out of bed. What was the point? She had no place to be, she didn't have to go to work as she was on a sabbatical, all she had to do was to question Peyton about her almost kiss with Lucas. As pathetic as it was, their non existent relationship was her main priority. To get the two broody blonde back together and happy, so that it would prove to her that there was such a thing as a happily ever after. "Peyton…" Brooke called out as she walked out of her bedroom and down the hallway. Tapping gently on the wooden door, she sighed, "Yo hoe…how about we head up the coast-" Slowly pushing on the door, she peered her face around the door and looked in. The perfectly decorated room was empty and Peyton's bed was already made.

"Hey…"

Brooke turned around and saw Peyton jogging up the stairs. She was dressed in a pair of black sweats and a white thin strapped Nike workout top, her hair blonde curly hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail and her skin was glowing with sweat. "Whoa – what's with the outfit sporty spice?"

"I went out for a run." Peyton said bending down slightly; she was still out of breath from the one mile run. On the rare occasion when she needed to clear her head or get rid of a hang over, she had found over the past couple of years that the best way to get rid of a hang over was to drink plenty of water and run the alcohol out of her system. She wasn't hung over though, she was troubled by the almost kiss.

"Well at least you ran around the block as opposed to running back to LA." Brooke couldn't help but grin at her best friend, she had expected to have to pry information out of Peyton but it was very obvious from her facial expression that Peyton wanted to vent. "So spit it out P. Sawyer," Brooke took a step to the side and leant back against the wall. "The almost kiss that everyone witnessed, you annoyed that the perky little godson of mine interrupted before you had a chance to plant those lips onto his or are you relieved?" Brooke watched as Peyton's brow furrowed, "You might as well tell me, you're probably gonna have to have the talk with Lucas, you know broody can't let sleeping dogs lie."

Peyton let out a deep sigh, she was right. It was better to sort out her feelings now before being bombarded with questions about it from Lucas. "Uh, I don't know…" Peyton hadn't slept much last night, all she could think about was the past, how they had tried to make it work as a couple, the baby that she lost, the marriage proposal she rejected. "After seeing him with-" The name of the girl escaped her, the beautiful girl that had been both his editor and his lover, "I guess my feelings were all over the place." She let out a long deep sigh and frowned, creasing her forehead. "Who knows" Time for a change of subject, "So, what about you Brooke Davis owner of Clothes over Bros, voted one of the top best dressed celebrities by US magazine, you going to give your fiancée another shot?"

It was her time to frown and sigh, when she hadn't been busy trying to get Lucas and Peyton back together or at least hinting to them about a possible reconciliation – her mind was always on Mark and how he hadn't stopped her from leaving New York, how he hadn't chased her down to Tree Hill to declare his love for her. No he just let her go. "Mark?" She rebuffed the question, acting as though she hadn't given it a second thought. "I'm here in Tree Hill and he's still in New York tending to his supposedly sick mother, what does that tell you?" Bitter much? She knew she was and it was evident in her tone.

Peyton raised her brow confused, hadn't Brooke been downstairs this morning? "Um, maybe you should go downstairs."

Brooke pushed away from the wall and tilted her head at her best friend, like a puppy would when it was confused or intrigued. She was both, skipping down the marble stairway bare foot. As she reached the bottom, she immediately saw the hallway was covered in bouquets of red roses. Her mouth fell open, were they for her? "Wha-" She paused midway through thought and descended the stairs further until she was in the hallway. "Alana…" Brooke watched as the front door swung open and Alana, her next door neighbour walked in holding a bouquet of red roses. "What's all this?"

Alana sighed, "I got woken up this morning by a knock at the door." She said places the red roses on the floor beside the doorway. "Anyways, I opened the door to find five hundred bouquet roses left in my driveway, for a moment I thought my husband had finally grown a romantic bone but when I looked at the name on the card, it was to my dearest Brooke." Alana frowned, as much as she admired Brooke Davis she couldn't help but feel envious of the young twenty something woman. She always thought Brooke had the perfect life and it was only confirmed by the ridiculous romantic sentiment. "The delivery guy must have gotten the address wrong; anyways I gotta go to work. I just wanted to make sure you got all of your flowers."

Brooke felt tears beginning to form but held them back with a smile. She walked over to the bouquet of red roses that Alana had placed by the door, took out the small white card and picked up the bouquet. She turned and handed the bouquet to Alana, "Thank you." She watched as Alana nodded gently before turning and walking out of the house. Brooke looked at the front of the card, scribbled on it was 'to my dearest Brooke', it was Mark's handwriting. Suddenly she felt her stomach turn over in knots, was this way of apologising for not chasing after her or saying that they were in fact broken up.

Peyton skipped down the stairs and whistled, "A little corny isn't it?" She asked with a hint of humour in her voice. "I mean roses? He could have gone with something a little more adventurous, like daises or sunflowers, sunflowers are good!" Truthfully she felt a little jealous, no one had ever made a romantic gesture like that towards her – well apart from the Lucas's proposal which wasn't really that romantic considering she had just walked in on him and a naked girl in his bed.

"Roses are my favourite, they are classical and classy!" She retorted knocking back Peyton's humour. Turning around she looked up at Peyton who was standing on the second step. "Can you uh-"

"Oh, sure." Peyton nodded and went to turn around but was stopped by Brooke's hand on her arm.

"No, doofus!" Brooke rolled her eyes as Peyton turned back to face her once again. Lifting the white card in the air, she handed it to Peyton, "Can you…" She couldn't finish the sentence because finishing it would mean she would have to think about what was inside of the card and if she thought about what was inside of the card, it would be 50/50. An apology or a break up note, which would be tacky she thought. Who breaks up with someone with a fricken note?

Peyton opened the envelope and took out the card inside. She read it through quickly just to make sure there was nothing bad inside; she didn't want to be the one delivering bad news to her best friend. A smile crept on her bare lips as she finished reading the card in her head. "My darling Brooke…" She started, "It's been thirteen days since we last spoke, thirteen days since I let you walk away. Thirteen days filled with misery and heartache. I don't care that I sound like a hallmark card right now, I need you to know that I love you, I've loved you since the moment you accidentally spilled your drink on me at that cocktail mixer." Peyton paused, her smiled widened "Tonight when my planes lands at the private air field in Tree Hill, I plan to whisk you away to the nearest church, in front of your friends, whatever family members you want there and marry you, if you will still have me. Yours forever, Mark." Peyton handed the card back to Brooke and watched as she read the card for herself.

The tears that had been forming earlier which she had successfully knocked back were suddenly streaming down her face like there was no tomorrow. She looked around the room that was filled with red roses and felt remarkably overwhelmed. She wanted to believe his gesture, his declaration of love but history had taught her not to get her hopes up. Back in high school, she had let herself fall in love with Lucas who was in love with Peyton. Hello heartache. Then there was Chase, the sweet, innocent boy who had touched her heart at the end of high school and now Mark, who had practically left her at the alter. "I love Mark but…" She paused

"But what?" Peyton stepped down so that she was now in the hallway side by side with Brooke. Wrapping an arm around her friend's neck, she pulled her tightly in for a side hug and couldn't help but smile. "You're the most optimistic person about love I know. You've got a big heart Brooke Davis and you deserve to share it with someone who loves you and who you love."

Brooke looked up at Peyton and suddenly a look of determination covered her face. "Peyton there are jobs to be done, so call everyone in, Haley, Nathan, Skills, Bevin, Mouth, Lucas" She quickly raised her index finger in the air, now was not the time for arguing, now was the time for doing. "The drama between the two of you stays at the door, you hear me Sawyer?" Brooke took a step closer to her tall best friend and looked up at her with eyes wide, lips pursed. "Do you hear me?"

Peyton couldn't help but grin at Brooke's new found attitude, determination to do things the Brooke Davis way. "It's checked at the door, I promise!"

"Good and tell him that too, I don't want broody to be broody today." Brooke nodded pleased with her instructions, "You start dialling and I'll start cleansing!" Brooke jumped up and down and clapped her hands together like a little girl; the butterflies in her stomach were going crazy with joy. She was going to be getting married today. "Who's getting married in the evening?" She sung loudly as she bounced up the stairs, "Brooke's getting married in the evening!"

---

Haley and Nathan stood outside of Brooke's large white front door, the two of them sharing the same confused face. Nathan turned and looked down at his petite brunette wife, with his brow raised. "So what exactly did Peyton say on the phone?" He asked wanting to clarify why at ten thirty in the morning he was at Brooke's house when he should have been at the high school teaching the basketball summer programme

"I don't know all she said was SOS and BYOH." Haley watched as Nathan's brow furrowed even more confused, "Bring your own husband." Haley had been running the short conversation through her mind since the call ended, what was so urgent? Was something wrong with Brooke or with Peyton? Why hadn't Peyton specified more? One of her pet peeves was not knowing, usually she was little miss know it, a teacher, tutor girl and now she was just plain clueless.

"Haley?" Lucas jogged up onto the porch surrounding Brooke's house. Haley and Nathan were both there which meant that Peyton's mysterious call asking him to come over most likely had nothing to do with the almost kiss he had been obsessing about since last night. "What are you guys doing here?" Why aren't you someplace else, he thought to himself. All he needed was five minutes alone with Peyton to talk about them, about what almost happened and about what could be. Okay so it was probably going to take more than five minutes and by the looks of things it wasn't going to be anytime within the next hour.

"Peyton called us." Haley tilted her head and raised her brown at her sandy blonde best friend, "What are you doing here?" Like she didn't know, he was probably skulking outside of the house waiting for his moment to pounce on Peyton and ask her about the kiss they almost shared last night. Guys, she mentally rolled her eyes at their stupidness.

Lucas opened his mouth to respond that he didn't know why he was there, clearly when the large white front door swung open. "Skills?"

Skills raised his brow at the three Scott's standing before him, "Damn that girl's got the hearing of a dog!" He rolled his eyes, "Ya'll better get in here before the beast comes storming through." Skills turned quickly on his white Nike basketball shoes and headed back into the living room, sitting down next to Bevin on one of the luxurious sofas.

Haley walked into the house followed closely behind by Nathan and Lucas. Her eyes widened as she noticed all of the red roses in the hallway, "Someone's romantic." She turned her head back slightly and peered over her shoulder at Lucas, who quickly and discreetly shook his head.

"Hey guys…" Peyton strolled into the living room from the kitchen; she was dressed in a pair of low riding blue denims and a black Foo Fighters t-shirt. Her wet curly blonde hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail; in her hands she carried a notepad and a pen. "Thanks for coming…"

Brooke followed Peyton into the living room, "I guess it's better late than never." Her tone was snappy because there was a lot of things to do and little time do them in. She motioned quickly with her hands for them to sit down and frowned when they didn't move.

"Do what the beast says." Skills muttered under his breath loud enough for Bevin to hear him but low enough for Brooke to be completely oblivious of his words. He looked up at Brooke who shot him a thunderous glare and raised his hands in the air, "I didn't say anything!"

"Sit." She tried her best to change the tone but was unsuccessful. Oh well, better to be bossy and snappy than laid back on her day and it was her day. Haley, Nathan and Lucas quickly scurried over and sat on the other sofa in the room, so bossy and snappy got results. "Almost three weeks ago my dream wedding was cancelled…" She paused and continued quickly, "and it broke my heart." She lied, she was devastated at the cancellation but she wasn't truly heart broken, melodramatic would get results she told herself. "All of you love me and want to see me happy, right?" Rhetorical question but she wanted it answered.

The group quickly spoke in unison when she paused, "Yes."

"Good" Brooke grinned, "So here's the deal. Mark's plane lands at the Garlands at approximately seven thirty pm tonight; at eight fifteen we will be inside of the church getting married…which is where all of you come in." Brooke turned and looked at Peyton, "Peyton…" Brooke turned and walked out of the living room to go get her red pumps.

Peyton nodded, "I called in a favour with Minister Hanson who has agreed to perform the late night marriage ceremony but there are a million and one things to do and only us to do them."

"Us?" Nathan asked confused. "Do what exactly?"

"Well the flowers are already taken care of" She said gesturing to the hallway where approximately five hundred red roses were resting. Holding up her sketch pad she jiggled it in the air slightly trying to emphasize e that there was more to do. "I have a list of things that need to be done and I think if we do it in teams then we will have less chance of getting it wrong. Bevin and Skills, candles need to be bought and arranged in the church. Brooke doesn't want extravagant, she wants quaint but more than anything romantic." She turned and looked at Haley, Nathan and Lucas. "Haley and-" She had thought about teaming Haley up with Nathan, it would be the most obvious but she didn't want to be alone with Lucas, there was still so many things she had to think about before they had THAT conversation. "Lucas, the gazebo is still set up in the Brooke's back yard; her cook is preparing a meal for the wedding party which is basically all of us, Mark and whoever else he brings on the plane. Brooke's parents are in California and while they probably would make it in time she doesn't want the drama."

Haley nodded, "You want us to put the finishing touches to the gazebo, flowers, table arrangements, music?" She asked, really answering her own question at the same time.

"Yeah." Peyton looked at Nathan, "Nathan you and me have the fun job" She spoke sarcastically "Of helping Brooke find a wedding dress in less than six hours."

"Why doesn't she just wear the dress she had before?" Nathan asked confused, he never could understand the workings of the female mind. To him a dress was a dress, when he married Haley he wouldn't have cared if she had turned up to the wedding in jeans and a t-shirt because she would still be the most beautiful woman in the world to him.

"Are you kidding?" Brooke had stepped back into the room just to hear him ask the question. "Seriously?" She shook her head, "What happened the last time I tried to get married in that dress, huh? I didn't get the chance to because the groom's mother pretended to be ill so that I couldn't get married, so that dress is obviously cursed!" She rolled her eyes, "So you've all got your jobs to do and I've got a dress to find, so how about we stop sitting on our asses and get to it," She smiled, "Kay? Let's move!" Brooke turned and strutted out of the living room towards the front door.

Peyton grimaced looking at them all, "She's appreciates all what you'll be doing, really!" Peyton quickly turned and followed Brooke out of the house.

"Nathan!" Brooke squealed from outside.

Nathan turned and looked at Haley, "I guess I'll see you later." He leaned across and kissed Haley quickly on the cheek before standing up and running out of the living room to follow Brooke and Peyton. Why did he have to be the one to go with the two girls? He was hardly queer eye for the straight guy, what use would he be at all? Though it was better just to follow along than to question Brooke and endure the wrath of the beast.

Skills took Bevin's hand and stood up, "Okay so I guess we ought to get going, she's probably got big brother style cameras all over the house watching our every move on her blackberry or something." Skills turned and looked at Bevin, "You ready B?"

Bevin nodded, "I'm ready baby, let's go shopping!" She giggled and skipped out of the living room, with Skills following behind her sighing to himself.

Haley slowly stood up from the couch, still digesting all of the news. "Wow…I can't believe Brooke is going through with a shot gun wedding, it's so…Peyton like don't ya think?" Haley grinned and turned slowly on her heels, looking down at her best friend with the goofy grin still planted on her face. "Hey speaking of the girl you almost kissed last night, you think she's desperate to avoid you? I mean she took Nathan on a shopping trip and as much as I love Nathan the man hasn't got a stylish bone in his body, whereas as I would say you're the Scott with a little more style. What's all that about?" It was her round about way of asking what was going on with the two of them.

Lucas stood up from the sofa and rested his hands on Haley's shoulders, looking down at her. "No questions – let's just get everything ready."

Haley nodded, "Translation, you have no idea what it means and you're waiting to talk to Peyton about it."

"Pretty much."

"Thought so" Haley turned around, "Okay, let's do this thing!"

---

Ten hours later inside of the small Tree Hill based church, two hundred and fifty of the red roses Mark had sent Brooke in the morning were scattered around the church. The majority of roses were hanging from the wooden benches; four bouquets resting on stands at the alter and red petals sprinkled down the aisle. Mark was standing at the alter in front of the minister, Haley, Nathan, James, Peyton were sat on one side of the church while Skills, Bevin, Lucas, Karen and Lily were sat on the other side.

The pianist began to play the wedding march song and the set of double door opened, where Brooke and Mouth were standing waiting to walk down the aisle. Though it had taken her the better part of the day and though it was a dress she bought off the rack – she had never been happier or more comfortable in a dress in her entire life. The body hugging white beaded dress fitted perfectly and shaped her body in all the right places. It wasn't a designer brand; her shoes on the other hand were pretty white beaded Gucci slip on two inch heels. Her long brown hair was slightly curled and scooped back in a white gold butterfly clip, her make up had been perfectly applied by her makeup artist thirty minutes ago. Everything felt right. "If I forget to tell you later," She smiled turning to look at Mouth who had flew in especially from New York to be here. "Thank you for giving me a way."

Mouth nodded and smiled. "Anytime" Truthfully he knew that when he walked her down the aisle and handed her off to Mark, the good looking, overly smart business man that a part of his heart would die. He had always imagined being the one in Mark's shoes, waiting for Brooke to walk down the aisle to him. In his dreams he was that guy.

"You're the best guy I know Marvin McFadden." Brooke clutched onto his arm tighter. Suddenly she was nervous, all of the drama of the day had kept her from thinking about actually walking down the aisle, saying her vows and becoming a married woman. She was going to do this…finally. Slowly she turned and began to make her way down the aisle.

The wedding had gone off without a hitch. Brooke had shed a tear or two which thankfully hadn't destroyed any of her make up, thank God for waterproof mascara. Her make up artist had turned up at the last minute bringing with her a digital camera which was a bonus considering neither she nor Peyton had even contemplated wedding photos. They had spent a good half an hour taking pictures inside and outside of the church of the bride and groom and the wedding parties.

Back at Brooke's house, the entire wedding party which consisted of thirteen people including the bride and groom were gathered inside of the well lit gazebo eating a three course meal, drinking the left over champagne from the aborted wedding three weeks ago while listening to light jazz echoing from the CD player. Karen after desert had taken Lily and James home because it was getting late. The others were still drinking champagne and chatting. "I can't believe it all come together." Bevin spoke aloud, finishing off her third chocolate and cherry cake slice. "It's like a fairy tale…"

"Right if the fairy tale wedding got cancelled and then resumed three weeks later!" Brooke joked, looking over at Mark who took her hand in his and kissed it gently. "I just want to thank you all for being here and helping me get through today." She was partially drunk; too much champagne on a practically empty stomach was never a good combination. "And you know what I really love is that everyone I want to be here is." Brooke raised her free hand in the air, "Now I'm not saying I don't love my slightly obnoxious parents or respect Mark's overbearing mother's opinion, but this has been perfect. You are all so perfect and pretty."

Mark laughed, "And on the note sweetheart, we should really get going soon otherwise we'll miss our flight." Mark with his family connections had managed to secure them a hut in the Maldives above the ocean for ten nights in one day.

"Oh nooo!" Brooke sighed dramatically, "Have we had our dance?" Maybe she was drunker than she thought.

Mark nodded, "Yes we have."

Peyton laughed, "Maybe we should have stopped off for lunch today." She said noting Brooke's drunken slurs.

As Brooke stood up, so did everyone else. She went around the table hugging each of them separately. "Married life is fun huh" She whispered in Haley's ear and then moved on to Nathan wrapping her arms around his neck, "Nathan thank you for carrying my dress today, you're my dress protector!" She exclaimed moving on to Skills and Bevin, hugging them both at the same time, "The beast thanks you both" She pulled back from the double hug and moved across to Lucas and grinned, leaning up to whisper in his ear as she hugged him. "An almost kiss means something broody!" Brooke pulled back and winked at him before moving onto the man who had walked her down the aisle, "Mouth." She threw her arms around him, hugging tightly. "Thank you so much for walking me down the aisle, I love you…" She paused and looked across at the makeup artist Jill, or was it Jillian she was too drunk to remember. "Booty call eleven o'clock." She pecked him on the cheek and watched as his cheeks blushed. "Where's Peyton?"

"Right behind you." Peyton rolled her eyes, she had missed seeing the happy drunk Brooke Davis, "Hey." Peyton stepped into Brooke's hug and wrapped her arms around her neck, "You looked beautiful today."

"I know." Brooke giggled, "Hey do me a favour, Sawyer." She leaned up and whispered in Peyton's ear, the same as she had done with Lucas. "Give broody a kiss, he looks like it's been eating at him all day!" Brooke pulled back and looked across at Lucas who was watching the two of them. She couldn't help but laugh, drunk or not she knew that the two of them were pining for each other. "Okay, well stay here…be drunk and merry, I'm off on my honeymoon with my lovely husband," She paused and giggled again. "Husband," She repeated for herself, "And I shall see you all in eleven days!" Brooke stumbled over to Mark's waiting supportive arms and fell into them, "Good night and good luck!" She yelled as Mark lifted her in the air as she was in no fit state to be walking to the limo that was waiting for them on the driveway.

The group all waved her goodbye. Haley turned and rested her against Nathan's shoulder and smiled, "Surreal day, huh!"

"Yeah, you can say that again." Nathan rested his cheek against the top of Haley's head and smiled, "I became a personal assistant and got tipped a hundred bucks." He joked about the hundred dollars Brooke had paid him earlier in the day, he had initially declined to take it but Brooke forced it into his jean pockets saying that her actual assistant would have gotten paid five times as much. Nathan pulled back and looked down at his beautiful wife, grinning. They were going to be home alone tonight which meant no early morning for either of them, no wake up call by their beautiful son. "You wanna head home?" He raised his brow twice and winked at her.

Haley playfully hit him in the chest with her hand, "Is that all you think about?"

"Are you saying no?" Nathan grinned crookedly.

"No!" Haley exclaimed a little too loudly and quickly. She smirked and took his hand in hers, looking over at the rest of the group. "Um, we're kinda tired…so we're gonna call it a night."

"Is that what the kids are saying these days?" Skills joked and laughed with Nathan, while Haley looked on mortified. "We should probably get going too, we gotta drive up to see Bevin's parents tomorrow." Skills wrapped his arm around Bevin's neck and grinned over at Lucas, though he hadn't been present the previous night he had heard from Bevin, who had heard it from Brooke of the almost kiss that took place last night between Peyton and Lucas, and he knew Lucas well enough to know that he was probably dying to be alone with Peyton. "So uh, we're gonna go. You need a ride Mouth?"

Mouth shook his head as Jillian the make up artist wrapped her arm around his waist, "Thanks but I uh, got a ride tonight." He grinned like the cat who had got the cream. "Night all." The two of them slowly made their way across the large backyard, with Skills and Bevin following close behind.

"Night." Haley grinned at the two left standing, it would have been polite to offer Lucas a ride home with them but she was leaving him stranded for his own good. Haley tugged on Nathan's hand and dragged him away from the gazebo.

Peyton bit her bottom lip, why was it her friends always seemed to abandon her when she needed them the most? It wasn't that she didn't want to be alone with Lucas, it was that she didn't know what to say. She was still so undecided about everything, about them. "Um, I should probably-" She couldn't exactly kick him out, it wasn't her house and it would be rude. "You wanna dance?" She asked him impulsively.

Lucas looked at Peyton, she looked stunning in an emerald coloured halter neck dress. The dress almost matched her beautiful eyes, which he had written about in the past and simply nodded. As he stepped closer to her, he felt her hands wrap around his neck. He automatically placed his hands on her hips as they moved in unison to the slow jazz music. Lucas leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, he would know if she pulled away that he was pushing his luck. She didn't. Sighing deeply, he was perfectly content dancing with her and knew that he shouldn't spoil the moment with questions about the previous night but he couldn't help himself, he had to know. "Peyton…"

"I don't know what it meant." Peyton looked up at him from under her dark mascaraed eyelashes, she was being truthful. There was no point beating around the bush, it was just the two of them now. "Maybe I was jealous after seeing you with…"The girls name escaped her mind again, she wasn't doing it purposely or trying to be catty, she just honestly couldn't remember the girl's name, maybe because she didn't want to. "Or maybe it was an accident." Right, how do you accidentally almost kiss someone, mentally she slapped herself for sounding like an idiot.

"Or maybe it meant something." Lucas couldn't help but grin because he knew that it did mean something, to the both of them. He could tell by looking in her eyes that she still cared for him, she practically admitted it by saying that perhaps she was jealous. Jealousy after all was a powerful emotion. Leaning down further he kept his baby blue eyes focused on hers, checking to see whether she was going to back away. She wasn't. Leaning in he planted his lips against hers, kissing her tenderly. Suddenly his hands found their way from her hips to his face as he pulled her into the kiss, making it more passionate, more urgent. He had almost forgotten what it was like kissing her and it wasn't going to waste time by dancing around it, it was all or nothing and he decided there and then, that it was going to be all.


	9. Chapter 9

Most people say the best way to get over an ex is to put all evidence they existed behind you. Burn letters, photographs or other flammable memorabilia they gave you; flowers, teddies, clothes and so forth. Leave the past in the past. The other people, the minority of people use the common phrase, 'to get over an ex, you've gotta get under them.' Clearly she was going with the minorities view. Peyton opened her mouth and let out a deep yawn and slowly opened her sleepy eyes. Turning her head she looked at the blonde haired man sleeping next to her. He looked so peaceful and at ease completely the opposite of what she was feeling inside.

Gently she reached down and took a hold of his wrist, carefully lifting his arm from her hip and moving it ever so gently to place it down on the bed beside him – trying her best and succeeding in not waking him. Pulling back on the black satin sheet that was covering her body, she slowly sat up and got off of the bed. Looking over her shoulder she turned to see that Lucas hadn't moved from his sleeping position, which relived her, now wasn't the time for the morning after talk. Scampering across the bedroom in the dark, she found the back of the door and pulled off the long white cotton robe that was hanging on the back of the door and slipped her arms through it, wrapping it tightly around her, covering her naked body.

Opening the bedroom door she tiptoed out, she was being juvenile by scampering around, trying not to make a sound but she couldn't help herself. Skipping down the large stairwell she walked along the hallway into the deserted kitchen. Brooke's chef had been given two weeks off following the shotgun wedding yesterday. The poor guy deserved it too, preparing and making a five star feast for twelve people in less than seven hours. She raised her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. What had she done? Why had she let things get that far? As the phone rang, Peyton jumped and opened her eyes dashing to the side of the kitchen to answer it before the ringing phone had a chance to wake him up upstairs. "Hello…"

Brooke grinned into her personalised sidekick, "Morning P.Sawyer." Brooke yawned it was far too early to be awake after all of the excitement and champagne of yesterday not to mention last night. "So I'm sitting in a private lounge at JFK, Mark and I are heading off on our honeymoon early. It was so totally sweet, this morning he was like, wife..." She giggled, "Let's get away now" Brooke swivelled in her bar stool, grinning from ear to ear as she spoke into the phone. "He's just phoning in and cancelling his meetings and saying goodbye over the phone to my new mother in law." Brooke looked at the bartender and pointed to her empty champagne glass. That was the good thing about flying first class, the privileges: the bigger and comfier seats, the use of the private lounge not to mention all the free champagne and food you could want. "So I thought I would give you a heads up, my cell phone will be turned off for the next ten days."

Peyton couldn't help but smile, Brooke sounded sincerely happy and that made her happy. Brooke had been through so much heartache in the love department, she deserved her happy ending. "Got it, emergency phone calls diverted to Sophie."

"Sophie?" Brooke asked confused before it clicked into place. "Oh, assistant number two, yeah sure whatever." Brooke watched as the bartender filled up her champagne glass. "You are officially my new best friend." She batted her finely mascaraed eyelashes at him. Lifting the glass, she took a sip of the slightly bitter champagne… "So how'd things go last night after I was swept off of my feet? Any fights break out? Mouth hook up with assistant number one?"

"No and I think so." Peyton responded, answering her questions simply. She was in two minds whether to tell Brooke that she had slept with Lucas. Telling her would mean that it was official, that the two of them were perhaps making a try of something not to mention it would be good to hear her thoughts on the matter. Then again, not telling her meant that there was no pressure, she knew better than anyone that Brooke was pro a Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer hook up. "I slept with Lucas." Without thought the words just slipped out of her mouth, obviously she was going for something.

Brooke spat out the bitter champagne over the bartender who was watching her, hardly first class material. "Oh my god…" She squealed into the phone, "Oh my god!" Brooke mouthed sorry to the bartender before turning on her stool, "Details now!" She demanded. "When? Where? How? How many times?" She bit down on her pink grapefruit glossed lips, "I bet it was totally hot I mean it had to be right, with all of that sexual tension building between the two of you."

Peyton couldn't help but blush; it was a little weird talking about hers and Lucas's sexual escapades with Brooke considering the past. Back in high school Brooke had dated Lucas, twice and both times when they broke up it was about Peyton. She hated being a source of heartache for her best friend, especially considering everything they had been through together. "It was…" Peyton paused thinking back to last night and the way Lucas had kissed her; so completely passionate, heartfelt and urgent, it was like he kissed her because he thought it would be the last time. The way they had stumbled into Brooke's house, fumbling around trying to rip each other's clothes off in between their rough, almost violent kisses. The way his hands had explored every inch of her body with his touch making the butterflies in her stomach flutter like crazy.

"Morning…"

Her train of thought was interrupted by his husky morning voice; the phone must have woken him. Tapping her toes against the cold hard floor she turned slowly, with the phone still placed next to her ear, awkward much? "Morning…" She was relieved to see that he had put on the clothes he was wearing the previous night, it would have been harder to face him if he was standing in front of her half naked, showing off his perfect abs it would have distracted her too much.

"Busted?" Brooke asked into her sidekick, and sighed gently. "Just say have a good honeymoon Brooke, if that's the case."

"Have a good honeymoon, Brooke." Peyton pulled the phone away from her ear and placed it back on the phone base. Peyton let out a deep sigh and turned back to face Lucas once again. "So about last night..." There was no point dancing around the subject. "Let's just say it was a good time and blame it on the champagne."

"We weren't drunk." Lucas wasn't going to put what happened between them down as a drunken mistake. He bit down on his lower lip as he took a step closer to her. She looked incredibly beautiful in the morning, it reminded him of the first time they had slept together; waking up to find her staring out of the window with a bed sheet wrapped around her slender frame, "and you seduced me." He said playfully.

"I did not seduce you." Peyton scoffed and took a step back as he took another step towards her. Proximity between the two of them probably wasn't the best idea right now, "You kissed me." She threw back at him accusingly, "So if anyone is to blame for last night it's you."

Lucas scoffed, "I kissed you but you're the one who pulled me into the house." He said taking another step closer to her. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Of course you're not complaining, why would you?" Peyton took another step back and grinned, suddenly the first day they talked to one another entered her mind; their conversation by the river where she had made him smile with her witty response about being better at sex than anyone else. "You just wanna know where we go from here, right?" She didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking. He had been very clear about his intentions towards her, the kiss last night was the confirmation. "Where do you want us to go from here, Luke?" She was generally intrigued as to what he thought was going to happen. "What do you see happening exactly?"

"I can tell you what I don't want." Lucas stepped over to the kitchen worktop and rested against it, folding his arms across his chest. "I don't want you to tell me that it meant nothing, because it did mean something. I don't want you to say that it was a mistake, because it wasn't." He looked up from the floor and found her emerald coloured eyes looking directly into his. "You want to know what I see happening between us?" He grinned, "A date tonight at Marco's." He spoke slowly so the words could sink into her head, he wasn't going to pressure her into something more, he knew better than that. Stepping away from the counter he began to walk towards her again, noting that she wasn't moving away from him this time. "All I'm asking is that we try…" Lucas reached Peyton and continued to stare down into her eyes, while reaching up with his hand to caress the side of her face. "Please Peyton…"

The touch of his hand on her skin sent a small electric shock down her spine, she bit down on her bottom lip and nodded her head, "Okay…" She looked down at her bathrobe and then back up into his baby blues, "You should" She paused leaning up slightly on her tip toes, her face getting closer to his, "probably go.", her mind was telling her just to walk away and forget about it but her body was telling her to go for it. Peyton took two steps back and grinned, "I'll see you tonight."

Lucas grinned; Peyton had never been like this with him. Openly flirting with him, being playful – it was a part of her he hadn't seen before, obviously a trait she had picked up in their years apart. "I'll pick you up at eight."

"I'll meet you there at eight." She quickly retorted.

Lucas took a step closer to her and looked down into her big beautiful eyes which were framed by dark lashes. "It's not up for debate; it's a date which means I get to pick you up." Lucas watched as Peyton opened her mouth to say something, he lifted his hand quickly to cover her mouth. "Date…" Lucas pulled his hand back down and turned around, making his way across the kitchen towards the back door.

Peyton watched as Lucas walked out of the back door, closing it behind him. They had never actually been on a date. The closest thing that resembled a date was the prom they attended in Honey Grove. They were going to go on a date. An actual date! Crap. She had dated Nathan, Jake, Lucas and some random guys back in LA but she had never actually gone on a date. This would have been the perfect time to call her newlywed best friend to talk about the date, what she would wear…and the nerves that were building up inside of her. "Crap"

--

Nathan ran down the stairs, jumping the last four steps landing in the hallway his sneakers making a loud thud against the floor. Strolling into the kitchen he walked up behind Haley and wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on the side of her cheek as he snuggled her body into his. "Morning…"

"Are you wearing sneakers in the house?" She asked knowing the answer without even having to look down at his feet.

"What?" Nathan pulled his arms back and looked innocently at Haley as she turned around to look up at him, looking less than impressed. "I'm now about to head out, I'm running late" He frowned, "You okay?" He took a step closer to her again, lifting his hand to her head, which felt normal. "You look a little -"

Haley watched as he pulled a face, raising her eyebrows. "I look a little what?" Nathan was about to put his foot in his mouth with whatever response he was thinking of. She grinned, "I think you should go." Taking a step closer to him, she patted his muscular stomach, "Before you say something which results in you cooking dinner tonight." Leaning up she planted a quick kiss on his lips and pulled back.

Nathan grinned, "I was going to say beautiful." He responded a little too late, "But always quick to think wrong of me." He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, "Go back to bed…" Nathan turned his attention to the kitchen door connected to the hallway, he heard a minor thud. "Let's go J." James was taking part in the basketball day camp he and Skills were running, and was better than the majority of kids which made him secretly proud.

James walked into the kitchen, dressed in a pair of Michael Jordan basketball shorts and a matching basketball vest. He had his white socks pulled up as far as they could go and was wearing a black head band around his forehead. "'Sup yo!" He grinned up at his parents.

"'Sup yo?" Haley mouthed to Nathan, horrified that her son had obviously picked up some lingo at basketball camp. She turned back and looked at her little blonde haired boy, who looked so completely ridiculous. "What are you wearing?" She laughed and shook her head as she slowly walked across the kitchen to him. Picking up a pair of trainer socks from the washing basket she threw them at Nathan. "You make sure he wears them…" She turned and looked down at James and rolled her eyes as she bent down and kissed his forehead which he grunted at, "and you, be good!" Haley slowly walked out of the kitchen but paused in the hallway. There was no way she was going to let her son leave the house looking like a reject from a crappy 90's boy band. Turning around she walked back towards him and quickly pulled off the black head band from his head.

"Hey!" James frowned

Haley grinned and made her way down the hallway, "He's turning into Skills!"

Nathan laughed and walked over to the back door, opening it. "Hey." Nathan watched as Lucas stepped up to the back door, "What are you doing here?" Nathan took in his appearance he was still wearing last night's clothes. "How's Peyton this morning?" He couldn't help but grin at his older brother, it was too predictable. They were too predictable. Of course they hooked up, everyone left them at the party so they could be alone…and that's what happens.

"How would I know?" Lucas couldn't stop the dorky grin that instantly appeared on his face.

"Because you stayed there last night." James spoke up watching the two adults talk. James watched as they both looked down at him, they both looked confused. "Mommy and daddy said last night that you'd be sleeping over at auntie Brooke's with auntie Peyton." James walked past the two of them into the backyard. "Lily called this morning too, she wanted to know what time she had to be at basketball at and then she said uncle Luke hadn't slept at home last night." James turned back and look at his father and his uncle, "Can we stop off and have waffles first?" He shrugged and turned around making his way to the car, "I think we should have waffles and pancakes…lots of pancakes."

Lucas watched after James stunned, "That kid is way too intuitive." Lucas grinned.

"Imagine what he'll be like when he's sixteen." Nathan couldn't help but laugh, his son always surprised him. He was always seeing things that he shouldn't, hearing things he wasn't supposed to and then bringing them up at the right moment. "So you didn't go home last night?" Nathan asked curiously as he and his brother made their way through the back yard.

"I have a date with Peyton tonight." Lucas said changing the topic slightly. He wasn't one to talk about his sexual conquests, ever and that wasn't going to change now.

"You know it's supposed to go the other way around, you're supposed to wine and dine her before you get down and dirty." Nathan joked as they walked through the backyard, towards his car.

---

Peyton walked into Karen's café dressed in a pair of blue low cut denims and a black Stereophonics tee. Her blonde curly locks pulled back into a tight pony tail, makeup minimum to mascara. She was in a foul mood and with good reason too. She had tried to call Brooke but her phone was turned off. She had gone shopping to find something new to wear for her date with Lucas but hadn't found anything. The truth was that she didn't really need to speak to Brooke, she didn't need anything new to wear she was just be crabby because she was nervous about her date with Lucas tonight. Stepping up to the counter, "Hot Tea…" Her frown was still in place and obviously scaring the waitress behind the counter. She smiled, so that spit would end up in her tea. "Thank you."

"Peyton?"

Peyton turned around and saw Haley sitting down at a table, with bags of shopping resting on the floor beside her feet. "Wow…" Peyton turned back to the counter and placed a five dollar bill on the counter and grinned, "I'll be over there." She said, trying her best to sound sweet to the nice waitress. Peyton hurried away from the counter and away from the glaring waitress, "You've done Brooke proud." Peyton suggested to the many shopping bags on the floor.

Haley frowned, "and yet I had no intention of buying anything." She picked up her apple juice and took a sip from it.

"Okay…wanna talk?" Peyton asked, giving her the option to say either yes or no.

"I'm late." Haley sighed, "and I haven't been feeling too great these past few days, not to mention I was sick earlier this morning."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Haley licked her lips, they both knew what the probable conclusion was, "I've got an appointment with the doctor later this afternoon, he's gonna run some blood work." Peeing on a pregnancy stick wasn't completely conclusive and she wanted to be absolutely sure that she was pregnant before she started to spread the news. Her frown deepened as she thought about it, another baby. It wasn't that she didn't want another baby, it just wasn't the right time.

Peyton watched Haley carefully, she obviously didn't want to be thinking about her own woes right now. A friend would give another friend a helping hand in time of a crisis, Haley needed to get her mind off possibly being pregnant. "I slept with Lucas last night." She announced candidly, as the waitress placed the hot tea down in front of her. "Thank you…" Peyton grinned up at her and then turned back to Haley, whose mouth mimicked an 'O' shape, "And we're going on a date tonight."

"You slept with Lucas?" Haley couldn't help the judgmental voice, "Oh Peyton!"

"You know you're the angel sitting on my shoulder, you're my conscious which would make Brooke the devil sitting on my other shoulder." Brooke had told her to go forward and basically just leap into the unknown, but Haley was cautioning her, as a wise friend would. Peyton grinned, "I should walk away I know I should. After everything that we've been through" She frowned as memories flooded over her, "I know we'll never have a clean slate but we can try to move forward and I want to Haley, I want to so much." She was finally being honest. A part of her wanted to run away and forget that this past month but that was only a part of her. The majority of her wanted to stay and see what they could be, to see if it could work. She hadn't told anyone how much she wanted to be with Lucas, how much she still loved him. A couple of years had passed, they had both changed but her love for him had remained. "Do you think it's a bad idea, trying to make things work?"

"I think-" Haley paused, she had seen what Lucas was like after they broke up. He was completely heartbroken, moping around Karen's for months, not writing – not really doing anything. Peyton on the other hand, had gone back to Los Angeles and resumed her life and rejoined the dating world, according to Brooke. Peyton had obviously tried to fill the void by hooking up with countless, nameless guys. "I'm worried…" Haley admitted, "I saw what Lucas was like after you guys broke up – and heard through the grapevine what you were like and I really don't want to see either of you get hurt again." Her words were honest and harsh, but she had to speak her doubts. Haley looked over at Peyton who had lowered her head, "But if it worked between you guys…" Haley grinned, "You'll never know until you give it a try."

Peyton looked up from the floor and half smiled, she could always count on Haley to be honest with her. Brooke was more the idealist, looking for the happily ever after where as Haley was a little more realistic with her views. Haley was looking out for both her and Lucas's interests. "I guess we'll find out tonight." Peyton grimaced.

"You've got a date with Lucas and I might be pregnant, I wonder who's got it worse!" Haley joked humourlessly.

--

"Okay here's the game plan." Nathan looked down at James and grinned, "When we walk into the house, you do that whole puppy dog eyes thing that you're so good at and give your mom a hug, that should distract her long enough so that she forgets that we're late for dinner. Okay?"

James nodded and turned the handle to the kitchen door, opening it. He peered around the kitchen door and saw his mom sitting at the table. Slowly he walked into the kitchen, his eyes turning sad and a small pout appearing on his face. "I'm sorry."

Haley turned her head slowly and looked at her little boy, who was giving her the puppy dog eyes. "You're late." She said sternly, her eyes peering up to Nathan as he walked in behind James. "James go upstairs and wash up." Haley looked back down at her son and raised her brow as he was about to say something else, giving a perfectly good reason as to why they were late. A talent for B-Sing he received from his father. She smiled gently to know to let him know that she wasn't upset with him, "Go on sweetie, the pizza should be here soon."

"Pizza," James yelled enthusiastically as he ran out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "Yesssss!"

Haley turned back and looked up at Nathan. She wasn't mad that they were late for the fourth time this week. She should have been and probably would have been if her day had been any different. "Nathan…"

Nathan knew what was coming and he wasn't in the mood for an argument. Turning his back on Haley he closed the door and walked over to the kettle, switching it on. Best thing was to change the subject and quickly before she had a chance to get in to a rant and rave about how he had to be more considerate of others, how she was getting annoyed that basketball once again seemed to be over taking their lives. "Lucas has a date with Peyton tonight." He grinned to himself that was the best topic to change to; Haley always had an opinion on other people's relationships.

"I know, I saw Peyton at the cafe earlier." She sighed, after she and Peyton had talked in the café, Peyton had accompanied her to the doctor's office. She didn't want to be alone when she went for the tests and she could hardly call Nathan up and ask him to ditch the basketball camp and come and be by her side. She wanted to – but she thought it would be unfair, especially if it turned out to be a false alarm. "I think it's good that they're trying, I mean the two of them have been so miserable apart maybe being together – I don't know, I just want them both to be happy."

"Yeah well you should have seen Luke today, he was like a little kid on Christmas morning – he could barely contain his excitement." It actually reminded him of how James was the previous Christmas, for the entire month of December it was like he was high on life. "They are like polar opposites though, Luke's always the one pushing for something more and Peyton's always the one pulling back…"

Haley raised her brow impressed at her husband's observations. He was good at distracting her; it was time just to rip the band aid off. "I'm pregnant." Haley heard something hit the floor; she turned around and saw that Nathan had dropped the mug he was carrying. He was staring at her, wide eyed and open mouth – like a deer caught in the headlights. She bent down and started picking up the broken pieces of the mug. "I went to the doctor today because I've been feeling not so great – he took some blood tests and viola!" She looked up at Nathan and bit her bottom lip. "I thought I was late because of stress…." She stood up and walked over to the bin, dropping the pieces of the broken mug into the bin, "but apparently…" She pointed at her stomach, "Eight weeks pregnant." She waited for him to say something but he just continued to stare at her, expressionless. "Okay you're driving me crazy just staring at me like that!"

"We're having a baby…" Nathan grinned and stepped across the room, throwing his arms around Haley, embracing her. "We're having a baby!" He yelled in excitement. Pulling back slightly, he placed his hands either side of her face and kissed her softly.

---

Lucas stepped out of his red open topped car, the car Keith had left him in his will. He looked up at the large white house, it looked deserted. He could see through the windows that the every light in the house was turned off, as was the porch house. A feeling of nausea set in his stomach; was he going to be stood up? It reminded him so much of when he went by Peyton's house to explain to her about the naked girl in his bed, only to find her and her things gone. She had left him a note saying how she couldn't do this anymore, how it was all too much. Lucas sighed, the only way he would find out if history was repeating itself was to knock on the door. Making his way up the pathway and onto the porch, he took in a deep breath and knocked.

No movements in the house.

No lights being turned on.

He turned his back on the door and closed his eyes.

Peyton opened the door and smiled gently, "Hey." She watched as he turned around slowly and faced her. The look on his face was unreadable, she couldn't understand his expression. "What? Too much?" She asked looking down at her classic black hoes over bros mini dress. It was rule number one of being a girl; always own a classic black mini dress – it always comes in handy and it certainly did tonight. She had decided to raid Brooke's closet for a pair of black strappy heels, Brooke wouldn't have minded because of the so called 'cause.'

Lucas shook his head, he was staring. "You look…." He paused and smiled, meeting her green eyes. "Beautiful," he exhaled. All of his fears had been wiped away seeing her standing in the doorway. He had never seen her look so beautiful.


	10. Chapter 10

"_Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."_

**- Maria Robinson**

--

--

A first date between two strangers is uncomfortable. It's the beginning of getting to know someone, what they like, what they don't like, how many siblings they have, what they like to do in their spare time. You smile because you want to fill the silence, you laugh at jokes to make him/her feel more at ease. But as the evening goes on, you're confidence builds and you slowly divulge into a more in depth conversation. A first date between two friends is just plain awkward. You don't know whether you've crossed the line between friend and lover. The conversation never dulls but you're always aware of the proximity between the two of you, aware of the urge to hold their hand but unsure of whether you're supposed to. A date between two people who used to be in a relationship should be like riding a bike; you remember how to peddle but it takes you a while to get back into the rhythm. Peyton didn't think her date was like riding a bike, she didn't even think the date was awkward. It was uncomfortable. She had been in love with Lucas once upon a time, and probably still was but looking across the table at him, he seemed like a stranger. "So," She looked down at the candle burning away in the center of the table and then proceeded to look up into his watching baby blues – the same baby blues which had been watching her non-stop for the past twenty minutes. "This is weird, right…" The past four years had propelled her from the shy girl hiding behind an emotion barrier into a somewhat sassy, confident young woman who nearly always spoke her mind.

Lucas's fears of rejection had been wiped away when Peyton had opened the door to him earlier in the evening. He was sure that she was either going to call and cancel or just not open the door to him. It was like he was on a constant high from being satisfied that she hadn't done either of those. "What?" He asked lost in thought, well not so much thought as just being lost in those emerald coloured eyes he had written about in the past.

Peyton couldn't hide the smile that played at her lips, it had been obvious to her and whoever else was watching that Lucas was a little, well besotted with her. His eyes had never left hers once, not even when ordering his drink. "Never mind," A small sigh escaped her lips. It had been fifteen minutes since they had ordered their drinks, normally she wouldn't have minded waiting but suddenly she craved her vodka and coke, it was the perfect remedy to cure the knots in her stomach. She looked around the restaurant trying to locate their waiter, but it was busy. Of course it was busy, it was date night. And she was on a date. On a date with Lucas… "Do you wanna get out of here?"

He raised his brow, confused. It seemed like everything had been going fine, well at least he assumed it was. "You want to go home?" He asked, his voice not masking his disappointment at all.

"No," She answered a little too quickly and smiled, "It's just…" She looked around the busy restaurant again and looked at all of the couples who were all dressed to impress their dates. "It's not us," She spoke finally looking back at him. "We never really did the whole fancy date night thing," In fact in the two years that they had dated, not once did they go out on a date. They went to parties together, they had dinner at each other's houses but they had never got dressed up to the nines and gone out to a ridiculously overpriced restaurant for dinner. "And to be honest it's not really my thing." She paused, he had invited her out to dinner, he had suggested the restaurant, and he had wanted this. And now she was ruining his night. "But you, we can stay if you want…I really don't mind, I was just thinking out loud." Good job at backtracking Peyton, she thought sarcastically to herself.

Lucas let out a sigh of relief and lifted his hand to his tie, pulling it loose. She didn't want to end the date she simply wanted a change of scene which to be honest was a relief. "Peyton," He looked at her from under his dark lashes and smiled, "I don't care what we do or where we go just as long as I get to spend time with you." He admitted truthfully. Lucas had never been shy with showing his emotions; if anything he wore his heart on his sleeve and was never embarrassed by it. "I've got an idea," Pushing back on the chair, he stood up and walked around the table to Peyton. "Why don't we swap the ridiculously overpriced lobster for a hot dog and a walk on the pier?" He held out his hand and grinned hopefully down at her. If she had been trying to back out of the date in a subtle way then she was going to have to do it now…

--

Haley stood in the doorway to her living room with her arms folded across her chest. She leant her head against the wooden door frame and smiled contently at the sight before her eyes. Nathan was sprawled out across one of their sofas with Jamie resting on his chest. It was a picture perfect moment and she didn't want to ruin it but it was past Jamie's bedtime. "Hey little man," She smiled at her son who turned his head away from the television to her, "it's time for bed."

"Aww, just five more minutes, please mom!" He begged. "I don't have school tomorrow and daddy said I could stay up and watch the game," He countered, Jamie had learnt quickly that the best way to get what you want was to negotiate…or at least that was what Uncle Skills had said.

"Five minutes," Haley's voice was soft yet it rang with authority. "And I'll be inspecting those pearly white teeth before you go to bed, if they're not sparkling then I'll know you have brushed…" She pointed her finger at him accusingly and grinned, "And the same goes for you, dad!" Her eyes met her husbands, "Set a good example for your son!"

"I'll set a good example now," He grinned looking up at her. His hands reached down and wrapped around his son's waist. Sitting up he picked Jamie up and threw him over his shoulder and laughed as his son squealed out of excitement. "When mom says it's bed time, it's bed time…" He paused her turned his head slightly so that he was looking over his shoulder down at his son's little face. "And why's that?"

Jamie laughed, "'Cause momma knows best!"

Nathan stood up from the couch and kept his hold on Jamie, "That's right, momma knows best." Walking across the living room, Nathan stopped in the doorway and leaned towards Haley and planted a small kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Momma always knows best." He winked playfully at his wife and strolled out of the living room and into the hallway, carrying Jamie over his shoulder.

Less than five minutes later, Jamie sprinted into Nathan and Haley's bedroom and ran around the double bed to stand in front of his mother who was tucked in bed and reading a book. He grinned, showing off all of his teeth. "See momma, sparkling!"

Haley leant forward and lifting her hand to her son's chin so that she could inspect his teeth, she grinned. "Sparkling," She confirmed quickly leaning forward and planting a kiss on her son's lips. "Now get to bed, daddy will be in a few minutes to tuck you in."

"Night momma…" Jamie turned on his bare feet and ran out of the bedroom as quickly as he had entered the room.

Haley watched as her son disappeared from the bedroom and felt a sense of ease rush over her. It was easy not to be anxious about the baby that was growing inside of her when she had a perfect, stable family life. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nathan enter the bedroom from their on suite and grinned, he was in his pyjama bottoms showing off his perfectly sculptured abs. A part of her envied him and his perfectly toned body. "You know it's not fair…for the next nine months, I'll be getting fatter and you'll stay looking like that." She waved her hand in his direction and scowled, "I'll be the fat cow walking around with the too-perfect-could-be-airbrushed husband. It's bad enough now when we go to beach or down to the mini mart, where those anorexic, big boobed blonde bimbos drool after you and then look at me…" She sighed, it had to be the hormones, she thought to herself. Normally she didn't care what the anorexic big boobed blonde bimbos thought of her, after all she had what a lot of people would consider the full package, a blossoming career, a beautiful and intelligent son and an incredibly handsome husband.

Nathan laughed, "Well…" He made his way over to their double bed and sat down on his side of the bed, leaning over to his beautiful wife, planting a kiss on the side of her neck. "Firstly you won't be fat, you'll be pregnant…" He kissed slowly up her neck to the corner of her mouth and grinned, "And secondly, when you're pregnant you look if it's possible even more beautiful than you normally do…" He moved his lips to hers and planted a soft kiss on hers and smiled as he pulled away.

Haley rolled her eyes, "What a bunch of crap!" She grinned and pulled on his arms to bring his body closer to hers, "But thank you for saying it." Her lips met his once again as their son called out impatiently for his dad to come and tuck him in.

--

On the pier she stood leaning against the wooden barrier staring out into the darkness. The sound of the waves beating against the rocks below could have very well been from one of those peaceful, melodic CD's. As the cold wind brushed against her face but was kept a bay from the rest of her body by his black suit jacket. She leaned forward on her elbows which were resting against the wooden fence and smelt the arm of his jacket.

"Hey…"

Quickly she pulled back from the wooden barrier and pulled her arm down from her face, there was no need for her to look like a lustful freak sniffing her date's jacket. Turning around she looked at him, he had completely discarded his black tie and the top four buttons of his shirt undone. Her eyes scanned down to his hands and eyed the two loaded hot dogs and she grinned. "Perfect…" Pulling back on the too long jacket sleeves she took one of the hot dogs from his grasp and held onto it. The mixture of meat and tomato sauce steamed up to her nose. Her stomach grumbled in response. Lifting the hot dog to her mouth she took a bite from it and savoured the moment. It tasted much better than an overpriced lobster, or at least she figured it did. "Mmm, this is soo good!" Leaning her back against the wooden barrier she looked across the empty pier.

Lucas joined her side and leant back against the wooden barrier, taking a bite from his hot dog. "So where were we?" He asked in between bites. Before he had wandered off to get the hot dogs they had been talking about past relationships, well past relationships being those that happened after they had been together. He had confessed that other than Holly his editor, he hadn't really dated anyone. Peyton on the other hand, seemed to have a string of relationships which awaked the little green eyed monster in his head, thankfully though, he had been put back to sleep by her admission that the relationships she had been in hadn't been relationships as such. "Right, Eric…the drummer?"

Peyton nodded, "Ah Eric," Peyton sighed and pulled the hot dog down from her mouth. Swallowing the food in her mouth she grinned, "He was a little more consistent than the others," She tilted her head trying to think back to how long the two of them had 'dated' for. "That so called relationship lasted about …three months?" She questioned herself, "Yeah three months, we actually broke up the day of Brooke's engagement party…" She paused, it had been a little over a month since Brooke's engagement party, and she wondered if he remembered that night as clearly as she did.

"Brooke's engagement party, you mean the night where you, my mom and practically every woman in the gazebo threw themselves at George Clooney." It was a rhetorical question.

So he did remember. Finishing her hot dog she felt her stomach rumble again only this time it was a satisfactory rumble. She turned and watched him eat his hot dog and couldn't help but smile. At the beginning of the night she had felt uncomfortable but after leaving the restaurant and just talking with him, she felt at ease, it felt right. Turning around on her heels she looked back out across the dark water and stared into the darkness.

Lucas turned his head and watched her, he couldn't help himself. "So on a scale of one to ten, how bad has this date been?" He asked, "Be honest…"

"One being not so bad and ten being incredibly sucky…" She turned and met his baby blues and grinned, "Definitely a ten, possibly even an eleven" She joked in true Peyton Sawyer fashion. If it had been anyone else, they would have mistaken her sarcasm but Lucas knew her, probably knew her better than anyone else…even after two years of being separated. "Honestly, at the restaurant it was an easy eight…but now it's a one."

Lucas grimaced, "I'm sorry about the restaurant, I guess I was just trying…"

"Too hard…" Peyton interrupted him.

"I just wanted to get it right," He admitted turning on his black soles and leaning against the wooden barrier looking out into the darkness. "The past couple of weeks have been…" He paused debating whether to be truthful or whether to sugar coat his feelings so that he wouldn't scare her off. "Being with you again, it just feels right." Okay, so he was going for truthful. He turned his body to face hers and reached out so that he gripped her arms so that she would turn and face him. "Peyton, I know you and I know that my feelings for you make you want to run away screaming from me," He grinned, knowing exactly what was going through her mind. "But I'm willing to be friends or to take this, whatever this is, as slow or as fast as you want to go." His right hand reached up and brushed away a strand of blonde curly hair from the side of her face. "I just want you to know I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

Peyton sighed, "And the date was going so well…" Why did he always have to go two steps too far? Sure he was giving her the option to just be friends but she knew that he would always want more…and she would too, but to declare it on a first date was just classic Lucas. "Why do you do that Luke?" She stared up into his baby blues trying her best not to get lost in them.

"Do what?" He asked confused.

"You put your heart out there on display for everyone to see," She took his hand in hers and looked up at him and smiled kindly, "It's an easy way to get it broken." Peyton had learned from past mistakes, she had given her heart too easily in the past and had in return got it broken, she couldn't understand why Lucas was always so willing to get his broken.

He twisted their hands so that hers were now resting in his, "Sometimes it's worth the risk…"


End file.
